Google, democracy and the truth about internet search

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/dec/04/google-democracy-truth-internet-search-facebook

“And Facebook is just the amplification device. When you look at it in 3D, it actually looks like a virus. And Facebook was just one of the hosts for the virus that helps it spread faster. You can see the New York Times in there and the Washington Post and then you can see how there’s a vast, vast network surrounding them. The best way of describing it is as an ecosystem. This really goes way beyond individual sites or individual stories. What this map shows is the distribution network and you can see that it’s surrounding and actually choking the mainstream news ecosystem.”

Like a cancer? “Like an organism that is growing and getting stronger all the time.”

Here’s the Map in the Guardian article he’s talking about:

https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/dbae5cf4cf587226815a1e111c94dddbc41019bd/121_82_4129_3764/master/4129.jpg?w=620&q=55&auto=format&usm=12&fit=max&s=add46342496295d1a8203f7ece429702

The authors make the claim its all a right-wing conspiracy, but I’m not sure I agree. I think its a lot worse than that! Sure, there are ideologues and ideology (as well as brutal commercial interests) behind this beast, but I don’t see them as the cause, I just see them as unwitting components, like amino acids are components in DNA.. I believe we are looking at artificial intelligence. It is an AI NOT conceived by and created by men and implemented on machines, it has spontaneously emerged in the matrix provided by the world-wide web, the substrate of the internet, as the first microorganisms emerged in warm ponds, or briny pools, or smoker vents in the the depths of ancient seas. The hardware and software of our technology are just the chemical formulas for the proteins of this creature. It may be composed of silicon and code, but it is much, much, more than that. And it has its own agenda, or is evolving one.

This is artificial life, artificial intelligence. It is Man-made, but outside Man’s control. In fact, Man hasn’t even really identified or recognized it for what it is. In the film “Ex Machina”, the mad genius protagonist creates his robots using his proprietary search engine to research his users and construct an algorithmic model for human intelligence and consciousness. I think this is what is happening here, except I believe this algorithm evolved naturally. If it hasn’t achieved it already, it is struggling towards consciousness and self-awareness.

We’ve been expecting The Modern Prometheus since Mary Shelley’s day. Maybe this is it.
Behold the Singularity.