The Force of Google

The Documentary Podcast

BBC

Society & Culture, Documentary, Personal Journals

4.3 • 2.6K Ratings

🗓️ 31 August 2016

⏱️ 27 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Google dominates internet searching across most parts of the globe. The algorithm which produces its search results is highly secret and always changing. But however good the algorithm, however carefully crafted to give us what Google thinks we actually want, is it really healthy for one search engine, and one company, to have so much impact?

Transcript

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0:00.0	So I've got to make this radio documentary about the power of Google, or more precisely,
0:07.3	the Google search algorithm.
0:09.9	That's the computer recipe, I suppose, which delivers the results on your screen when
0:14.3	you search for something with Google.
0:16.8	It's really complex, and most of it's secret, but does it have too much influence over
0:21.6	our lives?
0:22.6	Well, I better start by doing what I usually do when I have to find stuff out.
0:26.6	In fact, what a lot of people do first ask Google.
0:30.8	So what are the top three results I get if I do this search?
0:36.4	How powerful is Google?
0:39.8	So that's what we get from Google.
0:53.5	Let's find out what some humans think about that question.
0:56.6	The Google algorithm is one of the most important things that's ever happened in human history.
1:02.6	As a source of influence over people, I can tell you without doubt there has never been
1:08.7	anything like this in the history of humankind.
1:12.1	Nothing.
1:13.1	Could the Google algorithm be described as the most powerful force in the world?
1:17.8	Yeah, I think that'd be a fair way to describe it.
1:20.8	It certainly would be among the contenders, because so many people depend on Google to get
1:26.2	their knowledge.
1:27.2	I'm Rory Catalan Jones, the BBC's technology correspondent, and in this program for the
1:31.9	BBC World Service, I'm going to be asking whether the mysterious and ever-changing Google
	...

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