Go Google Yourself
Do you like what you see? (Oh, and don't pretend that you don't Google, or at least Bing, yourself. We all do. It's only natural.)
Why on earth are we talking about this? Well, it's late August, and there's not much else to talk about. But, beyond that, The Wall Street Journal published an interview this week with Google CEO Eric Schmidt that had some interesting stuff in it.
Notably, Schmidt seems to think that those darn kids today will be entirely different people tomorrow -- or, at least, people with entirely different names. Quoth the journal:
"Mr. Schmidt is surely right, though, that the questions go far beyond Google. 'I don't believe society understands what happens when everything is available, knowable and recorded by everyone all the time,' he says. He predicts, apparently seriously, that every young person one day will be entitled automatically to change his or her name on reaching adulthood in order to disown youthful hijinks stored on their friends' social media sites."
Interesting. Sow your wild (online) oats as a kid and then run away from it all as an adult. What a concept; most of us have had to live with the real-world consequences (or rewards) of the behavior of our youth. The thought that today's kids will be able to have a stupidity-filled virtual youth that they can just jettison when they're in their 20s or 30s is pretty darn intriguing.
And what if those of us who are past childhood (at least in terms of age) are still doing stupid things online now? Is there a statute of limitations on this name-change thing? How many changes do we get? Thoughts to ponder...thoughts to ponder. Eric Schmidt, philosopher. Who knew?
Oh, and by the way, in the worst transition ever, here's a story about Google possibly releasing a Chrome OS tablet the day after Thanksgiving. Just so you know.
Have you ever done anything that made you want to change your name? And what would you choose for a new name? Rattle stuff off at lpender@rcpmag.com.
Posted by Lee Pender on August 19, 2010