"Membership in the family of God is neither inconsequential or something to be casually ignored. The church is God's agenda for the world. Jesus said, "I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it." The church is indestructable and will exist for eternity. It will outlive this universe, and so will your role in it."
- Rick Warren
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
OK, first, full disclosure: I am a technologist. I have a degree in Computer Science. I even write software.
But I'm troubled by what's happening in our culture. Case in point: Google+. I only just heard about this, but it seems everyone is now "moving to" Google+ or wishing they could move to it or sitting on pins and needles waiting to be invited into it. We didn't even know what this was a day ago, didn't need it, and now everyone's buzzing about it. I assume it has more blinky lights or something? I guess it will give us a way of getting even more virtually connected to people we barely know and never see or talk to in real, physical life. Meta-life is more fulfilling, I suppose.
My inner conspiracy theorist is standing on a ledge right now. SkyNet had nothing on Google. They know everything about you, because you willingly have abdicated all your privacy to them. OK, OK, at Google headquarters they have a sign that says "Don't be evil". I don't want to be around the day someone there gets the bright idea to take that sign down.
But, what the hey. They've got apps!
Meh.
Just for fun, while I'm in this mood. Everything's amazing right now and nobody's happy:
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Comments on "Make It Stop . . .":
2. nhe
- 07/13/2011 7:51 am CDT
I just got a Google+ invite - I have no idea what it is....but it sounds like I should have the same reaction that Steve Martin had in "The Jerk" when the new phone book arrived......."I'm somebody now!"
That Louis C.K. is clip is beyond brilliant by the way - I watch it often........He is BY FAR the funniest guy out there.......especially when he's in a PG-13 venue.
3. Raindream
- 07/13/2011 8:22 am CDT
Thanks for writing about Google+. I heard about it only this week and didn't care enough to look into it. Of course, if I had been keeping up with Mashable.com, I would know all this and more.
4. Jeff the Baptist
- 07/13/2011 8:29 am CDT
Google+ is Facebook with slicker UI. Which is nice because Facebook's UI has gotten worse and worse over the years, possibly on purpose to increase ad revenue by forcing higher page counts.
But yes, one of the first things I realize when I started filling out G+ was that Google has much bigger privacy concerns than facebook. And G+ doesn't handle them any better.
5. Raindream
- 07/13/2011 8:31 am CDT
Better UI is good, but somehow a new social network at all seems so 2010, knowwhatImean?
7. Quaid
- 07/13/2011 10:29 am CDT
Having been on G+ a few days, I don't really know what the hubbub is about. The key advantage to G+ over Facebook that I can see is the ability to categorize friends. Whereas in FB you have a set number of friends, in G+ you have a set number of people in circles who you can categorize. So you have people in a "family" circle or a "friends" circle or whatever other circle(s) you create.
This is kind of cool, but I don't know if it is worth the jump. Given that I don't sit on FB all day long, the idea of me "moving" somewhere is a tad funny - esp. considering the fact that I don't even really "reside" at Facebook. But until G+ gives me a clear advantage that FB doesn't, I don't really care for it.
I'll keep up with G+ for a while, but my guess is that FB will update their platform to allow for the categorization of friends. When they do that, the advantages of G+ will have dwindled to nothing except its freshness (as demonstrated in its nicer UI). My guess is that I will lose G+ in about two months.
They can know who my friends are - I don't care.
PS That Louis CK clip is greatness. But he can be pretty crass - be careful what you search for on the YouTubes.
8. Bill
- 07/13/2011 11:30 am CDT
Jen,
I check it out, but I'm not convinced yet. Want an invite? ;-)
No!!!
They can know who my friends are - I don't care.
Quaid, you know I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but this statement is interesting (and a little alarming) to me. We are already being studied like lab rats by the marketers to determine how to make us want even more of the unnecessary cr@p they are trying to sell us (and getting better at it by the day), by looking at patterns, likes, interests, and - increasingly with smartphones - precisely where we go when and what we do when we get there.
Will there come a point where abdicating all our privacy will backfire on us?
9. stroke (jeremy)
- 07/13/2011 12:47 pm CDT
so, quaid, i'm wondering what to do with the G+ invite you sent me!
and you know you can already categorize friends on facebook by making lists and assigning people to them, right? i use it to categorize college, young singles, close friends, etc.
10. Shrode
- 07/13/2011 4:01 pm CDT
Yeah, Quaid, you can categorize anyone and everyone on facebook, and then look at posts in just a particular category. I've been doing that since I first got on facebook an eternity ago. (a year? :-)
What I haven't been able to figure out is how to post something so that only a particular list will see it.
12. Brian R
- 07/13/2011 7:11 pm CDT
I'm a technologist too. Not CS, but a chemical engineer. My company makes some of these products (or components for them)
. And yet, I still have a dumb phone, don't have cable, definitely not on google+. Even my mom gives me a hard time about not having a smart phone. It is a constant struggle though and after reading one of your earlier posts, I'm just about ready to pull the trigger on a Kindle (I do love to read). Like the post and the video, thanks!
14. nhe
- 07/13/2011 7:37 pm CDT
Quaid......crass? You're too kind - he's probably the most vulgar comedian I've heard (though I'm sure there are probably worse)........that's why I mentioned that he's best in a PG-13 venue (like Conan).......even his FX show is pretty raw (amazing what FX can get away with these days - I'd call it a hard R in content, even though they bleep out the R-rated words).........this is all very frustrating to me because he's also the most hilarious comedian I've heard (well, since Stephen Wright and Jake Johannsen)
15. Bill
- 07/13/2011 7:52 pm CDT
Ah! Now I'm feeling bad about posting the video. I don't know anything about this comedian. (I do think this video is brilliant, though)
17. Quaid
- 07/15/2011 9:59 am CDT
Louis CK just got nominated for an Emmy, from what I understand.
As for social networking - I know that Google and FB are studying our every move, but I don't see my G+ account really feeding into that as much as my search history and gmail.
Stroke - The invite was just put out there in case you wanted it. Some people here are craving an invite like it's freshly-baked bread, so I wanted to throw it out there for some of the friends, in case they were interested.
Lists on Facebook? I know nothing of this. How do I not know about this? Frankly, it sounds like it will be something I have to learn to use - which lends credence to the G+ UI, given the intuitiveness of its categorization. I'd rather not spend time learning something that can be made so simple. I probably sound like a grandpa now.
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Yeah, I'm a little scared to try Google +, because Google has wayyy more of your information than Facebook. As explained in this infographic:
