The plot of Steven Spielberg’s thriller Minority Report was based on what, at the time, seemed like some very dodgy technology. A hot tub full of very clever people called “precogs” who could somehow enable a Gestapo-like police force to get the drop on criminals before their actual crimes were ever committed. Kind of creepy, huh?
Now imagine this pre-emptive technology in your mobile phone. A little too sci-fi?
Not really. Consider the fact that the gurus at Google have already unleashed Google Instant––smart, guessing-game technology that can show you results before you ever finish entering your key words. Google reasons that people type slowly but read quickly, so why not save them a bit of time. Genius! So what does Google do for an encore?
Well, let’s ask the “precogs.” Google CEO Eric Schmidt apparently imagines a day in the not-too-distant future when your iPhone will be ringing you up with interesting tid-bits about your favorite indie band, dog breed, running shoe or political cause. At the IFA consumer electronics show in Berlin, Schmidt expanded on these envelop-pushing prognostications:
"The next step of search is doing this automatically. When I walk down the street, I want my smartphone to be doing searches constantly: 'Did you know?' 'Did you know?' 'Did you know?' 'Did you know ?... This notion of autonomous search––to tell me things I didn't know but am probably interested in–– is the next great stage, in my view, of search."
Again, I‘m voting creepy. All I can think of is that annoying guy on the bus who wants to talk sports. “Did you know? Did you know? Did you know?” You‘ve sat next to the guy, right? Of course, I am sure that Google would give those of us who are easily annoyed a handy way to opt out of this mind-reading feature. If not, I’ll just treat it the way I do the guy in the next bus seat. I’ll slip on my headphones and crank up the iPod. You can have the future, I’m kicking it old school.
