The Frog that Wanted to Be a Bull

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The Frog that Wanted to Be a Bull
By Hervé St-Louis
December 15, 2009 - 07:12

All the rage in Cyberspace is about the new Google mobile phone code-named Nexus. I know a comic book character named Nexus. He's a human endowed with the power of an old cryptic cult that has to murder mass murderers otherwise he gets those tormenting dreams that hurt his mind and well-being. His alter ego in the comic book is Horatio Hellhop.

The story of Nexus is simple. He is compelled to seek out villains and punish them for his own mental stability. It's a great comic book series by Steve Rude and Mike Baron, although they envisioned a future that is quite pedestrian. However, there is no technobabble that makes current cyberpunk contents cool and filled with cool concepts.

Yet Baron and Rude have one thing that they do right. It's an interesting criticism on society using loads of allegory.

What's the link with Google? I've read a blog post about someone asking if Google's strategy is to destroy whole Web business sectors with their cheap/free products, take over and populate with ads. There's been a lot of rumbling about Google recently. People are beginning to think that Google is too big. I see a meme.

If you're just waking up right now to Google's strategy, I suggest you go back to sleep. They obviously have a game plan, but I wouldn't even bother or venture to guess what that blueprint is. It seems to me that they are way beyond the thoughts of most of us. Just like the comic book Nexus, something is impregnated on Google's collective / corporate mind and it's not something non Googlers are privy to. I've read silly comments about the Terminator's Skynet and similar fears that Google will control everything. These are all - pardon my esotorism - trying to tackle and understand Google from the wrong angle. You need to think like a futurist - a comic book character plagued by dreams and not rely on that old stupid conspiracy crap to understand Google.

You have to be creative. Think of Horatio Hellpop and how he can't sleep at night until he has fulfilled his mission to eradicate mass murderers. Think about Google's motto from way back and how it said, "don't do evil" and how that was broken seemingly every time Horatio Hellpop from the comics killed a person? Isn't he committing a crime every time he eradicates a piece of evil?

Google is not evil. It just does what it has to do. Now, that means making a lot of enemies along the way and a lot of people drinking much stronger Kool Aid than the one Steve Jobs serves at Apple. Google has these dreams and it needs to act on them or else, just like Horatio Hellhop, it will be destabilized and easy picking for its opponents.

This is where the weakness of Google lies, if anyone cares. That's where opponents in any markets need to strike if they want to shake Google off its gameplay. Google is compelled to do things. If they don't act upon their dreams, they hurt.