Andy Clark and Search Engines

While reading an excerpt from Andy Clark's book Natural-Born Cyborgs I found his opinions about search engines to be very interesting. Clark's views are that newer search engines like Google search for the structure of links between pages instead of strictly looking at the content of the pages. He uses the example of searching for a word like "Harvard" and the Harvard homepage not being one of the top pages in that search for early search engines like Yahoo or Excite, however with engines like Google it's the very first page in the search. By performing searches like this it connects the web more than anyone could have thought.

When search engines are able to bring together these "soft assembled" information packages that Clark outlines, users are able to access any information at any time of day. This has seemed to revolutionize society's ability to give and receive information at any time. The user also has all the control in what information he or she wishes to access. This is basically the opposite of a book or newspaper where the reader is being force fed information, an online search allows for total user control. All of this work has allowed information to be accessible to anybody in the world and also brought the world closer together. Somebody in Paris, France can be accessing the same information that someone in rural Indiana, and I feel its all for the best. With information being so easily accessible due to the capabilities of these search engines, and this can only help people collaborate to come up with newer ideas that can improve the world around us.