I wonder if Aldous Huxley had lived in a time sufficient to forecast the pervasiveness and invasive nature of technology, what his novel of today would be like forecasting the future in the age of Google?

ActiveRain members have accumulated a vast store of knowledge and techniques on how to get visible on Google <a good thing> but ponder a moment on how the reverse (Google Knowing Us) will soon dwarf in comparison, our efforts to reach out to the world.

Don't get me wrong, I love technology and I think Google is perhaps the coolest tech company except for Apple to hit the tech stage.  I got a degree in Computer Science back in the 1980s and wrote an artificial intelligence theorem prover software program in Lisp and also wrote a host of very cool software applications.  That said, as the world becomes smaller by the day thanks to technology, which is benign by itself, always has two edges to the sword and eventually comes attached with "unintended consequences."

While Google (as the company exists today), and the founders' vision, are not about monopolies and they don't appear to want to "obliterate and kill their competitors" the way that Microsoft often goes for the jugular (hence the numerous mega-dollar antitrust suits it has lost), what happens if Google gets so incredibly big (like it's not huge already) and it gets sold to investors who don't have the same great moral compass that the current founders do?  Do you really want one company in possession of so much data, buying history, financial decisions in the hands of one single entity?

To me, that is a scary proposition and it's more of a societal question on what we as a people are willing to tolerate in the name of progress, convenience and technology.

While I am a huge fan of Google, I do start to wonder about how pervasive and invasive their technology, when integrated and combined with outside data from retailers and even perhaps banks someday, will create a world so personalized and customized for each unique "customer", that it will border on Big Brother?

First it was Google's search engine...

Then came a plethora of other applications, such as:

• maps
• Earth
• mail
• calendar
• Mobil App
• Docs
• Android
• Latitude
• Soon to be released Wave -- which I cannot wait to road test as trying to have intelligent conversations via e-mail anymore is next to impossible to organize, manage and make productive

With GPS and Maps available for their new Android phone operating system, just think if Google:

Is able to integrate your buying history through retailers who send your purchasing history to Google, banks do the same thing, and on your cell phone exists GPS, Latitude, etc., and Google send you a text message (or unprompted voice message) as you are walking down the street in front of your favorite store and says:

"Hey Chris...I see that you are walking in front of your favorite store "Modern Outfitters" and I see that they are currently having a 50% sale on the All-Terrain Hiking Boots you purchased back on 5/29/2006 and the boots are now on sale at $49.99."

Or

"Hey Chris...I see that you are near your favorite restaurant and your favorite movie theater.  Are you going to see a movie and have dinner afterwards?  I respond yes.  Google's automated response (in a very alluring and soothing voice says): I'll be happy to order your movie tickets for you right now and book your table at your favorite restaurant: Market Seafood.

I can just see people's eyes lighting up with many different responses:

• That is so cool and will be a time saver and may actually help me remember something I wanted or needed but didn't realize until I got home and it was too late, so I'm glad Google told me.
• This is cool when it accurately forecasts something I want, need or am going to do.
• This is okay but it gets annoying because it's not fine-tuned enough and it keeps bombarding me every time I pass something I've done or bought
• This is like BIG BROTHER and what's next.

Far fetched?  Imagine what Aldous Huxley would think in today's rapidly evolving tech age. 

I can just see it now, fast-forward 5 years and my daughter says to me:

"Dad: Google Latitude says you have been sitting in the chair typing this blog post for the past hour and you should be setting up for my birthday party on the other side of the house and I've been watching your coordinates and you have yet to get to the grocery store to pickup my cake!"