You're Nobody Till Google Indexes You

You're nobody till Google indexes you. Sounds ominous doesn't it. I can hear mothers telling their children, "Eat your vegetables or Google will index you."

Remember Skynet from the Terminator movies. It was a computer program that used the combined power of the world's computers and assumed control and tried to eliminate humans from the Earth. I can't imagine Google turning hostile like Skynet. It doesn't sound dangerous to be GOOGLED by a computer.

In Arthur C. Clarke and Stephen Baxter's new book "Sunstorm", it's mentioned that a future worldwide computer intelligence evolved from the search engines of the late twentieth century. I can see Google becoming like the intelligence called Aristotle from "Sunstorm". But again, I think the name will have to be changed to something more serious sounding.

Google already gives us the ability to find just about any information on just about anything. It's got maps, mail, news, and is working on a million volume library (I can't wait for that one). I can type in a telephone number and find out who it belongs to. Need the answer to a math problem? Type it into the search box and the calculator function supplies the answer.

If I type in my alter ego nickname Phremind, I get a list of a lot of the places I've (and anyone else using that name) visited and marked. If I was paranoid I'd be worried, wouldn't I?

Will Google become the omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent (sounds like God) computerized companion in our future? I'm pretty sure they are working on a replicator that will give them the ability to construct actual products for us right on the desktop. I read that on the Internet somewhere. And there's an implantable Google chip in the works too!

We are the Google. You will be assimilated.

Study: Hypnotism aids allergy sufferers

LONDON, July 6 (UPI) -- Swiss researchers say people can reduce their allergy symptoms by up to one-third just by thinking about a place that is free of allergens.

The researchers at University Hospital in Basel, Switzerland, based their conclusions on 40 people they recruited and trained to hypnotize themselves for two years.

The researchers said the group showed one-third fewer symptoms while using hypnosis, a conclusion based on self-analysis and congestion tests.

An allergy expert told the British journal Nature that the results could have been influenced by patients' belief that hypnosis would reduce their symptoms.

Lead researcher Wolf Langewitz agreed that a larger study is needed.

"We felt that the results were encouraging enough to tell people to try it, because this intervention is free of side effects," Langewitz said.

Copyright 2005 by United Press International. All Rights Reserved.

Article found at Science Daily.

Tags: Health, Health and Wellness