Planet Descent

Community => Mess Hall => Topic started by: Scyphi on May 02, 2014, 11:14:50 AM

Title: Here's Something I Bet You Hadn't Thought Of...
Post by: Scyphi on May 02, 2014, 11:14:50 AM
The rise of a Google-based nation; "Googlestan," if you will. (http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/178985-welcome-to-the-nation-of-googlestan-please-enjoy-your-stay)

It might seem a little absurd at first, but read through the whole article. It makes a pretty convincing argument that a Google-dominated nation, or something like the Google, might be inevitable given current trends in our society...something that has both its upsides and downsides. At the very least, it's an idea worth considering that most might not have stopped to think about.

Discuss! :D
Title: Re: Here's Something I Bet You Hadn't Thought Of...
Post by: -<WillyP>- on May 02, 2014, 12:51:30 PM
Facebook is already in decline, Google will be right behind them, and 50 years from now children born today will remember Google and Facebook the way we remember the giants Union Pacific, General Electric, and RCA used to be, and technologies like the 8-track and record player.
Title: Re: Here's Something I Bet You Hadn't Thought Of...
Post by: Scyphi on May 03, 2014, 07:42:02 AM
Yes, but it's not so much Google specifically that the point's about, it just serves as a convenient example. You're quite right, Google's expendable, but the fact is that, in theory, what this article describes could very well be possible still. Not to say it WILL happen, just that it COULD happen, and quite possibly without people realizing it.

Anyway, I just thought it was a neat idea that was worth throwing out there for consideration.

Also, it occurred to me after posting this thread, upon considering it further, that this could apply to the PTMC. We know from the mission breifings in more than one of the Descent games that the PTMC is the "the biggest bureaucracy in human history" and pretty much solely dominates the mining market YET have ties in several other things than just mining; colonization, robotics, artificial intelligence, weapon design/production, data storage, various science projects, nanotechnology, transportation, and ties with government and more to have enough influence in human affairs that "nobody wants to mess with the PTMC."  So there you go, the PTMC serves as a bit of an example for what I'm talking about here.

And its a two-way street. You could spin this both in a bad light (akin to "1984") or in a good light (for a somewhat more utopic-like feel).

I guess the idea might interest me more than others, because I write, and as part of the trade, you kinda have to stop and think about stuff like this.
Title: Re: Here's Something I Bet You Hadn't Thought Of...
Post by: -<WillyP>- on May 03, 2014, 10:52:42 AM
The bigger they are, the harder they fall.
Title: Re: Here's Something I Bet You Hadn't Thought Of...
Post by: PyroJockey on May 03, 2014, 09:51:33 PM
I recall when Novel was king of networking and if you wanted to get information on line you dialed into Compuserve.
Title: Re: Here's Something I Bet You Hadn't Thought Of...
Post by: TechPro on May 04, 2014, 06:53:23 PM
I recall when Novel was king of networking and if you wanted to get information on line you dialed into Compuserve.
Ahh.... the memories...


Ok, memory flashback over.  ;)