Loading ...What’s In a Name?
When Sergey and Larry–a couple of enterprising Stanford collegians–met together to talk geek and think big, they probably didn’t know just how big they were going to go in the field of Internet technology. The name Google, however, may have been a prognostication of the massive future growth of the company. After all, googol is arithmetic lingo for the number 1 with 100 zeros after it (like this: 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000, 000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google). So, Google, and its attendant indexing of nearly every website on the planet is suggesting their vast reach, right in their name.
Bigger than Google
It would be facile to imagine that the Internet technology company Google is solely responsible for the explosive growth of the Internet. But it is a powerful Internet technology firm. In fact, already in the course of writing this article, I’ve used two of my five Gmail accounts, checked some dates on my Google Calendar, typed in Google Docs, used Google Chat, and yes, I’ve even Googled a dozen searches or so. I use Google every day of my life.
But the Internet is bigger than Google. Since the Menlo Park garage beginnings of Google back in 1998, the Internet has come along way. Right now, more than 1 billion people have regular access to the Internet. That number is supposed to be 1.5 billion in less than a year. If you add Internet users on mobile devices, you’re looking at a number that is currently close to 2 billion. Internet technology is huge.
Today, the Internet is a worldwide phenomenon–affecting everything from relationships, to commerce, to education, to culture, to communication, to science, to industry, to travel, to writing, to leisure, to media, to hobbies, etc. It would be hard to overstate the world-changing power of the Internet.
Good, or Bad?
Questioning the moral import of epochal world events is not always necessary. But, on the other hand, it’s nearly unavoidable. When something this earth-shaking has happened, for most of us within our lifetime, how do we grapple with its significance? Is it good, bad, or neither?
Few would argue that the Internet is all bad. Sure, it’s helped grow a seedy side of industry, and yes, you would probably prefer not to check your email, Blackberry, or iPhone, as often as you do. However, we have a lot to thank for the Internet and the growth of Internet technology.
Of particular interest to KeyVive is the power of the Internet in revolutionizing diabetes and health concerns. Internet technology has never replaced physicians. It never will. But Internet technology does furnish you with a vast, unending library of valuable resources on diabetes. With the Internet, you can help identify diabetes symptoms, you can find a doctor in your area who specializes in diabetes, you can research the pros and cons of various forms of treatments, you can keep up to speed on the development of technologies in the field of diabetes, you can determine which is the best glucose monitoring system, you can find tips for some tasty diabetes recipes, and you can even upload your personal information to the Internet and have it transmitted to your doctor. The list goes on and on.
Where would we be without the Internet? Where would you be without a web portal where you can tap in a few words and instantly return dozens of results that give you helpful information? Although we may complain about the current state of our nation’s healthcare, we have little to complain about when it comes to the availability of information on health subjects. Whether you want to explore the etiology of diabetes or just find an online virtual community to share your thoughts, concerns, and fears, Internet technology has given you a way to do so.
When it comes to you and your health, the Internet can play a key role. The Internet isn’t going somehow make you lose 12 pounds, deliver a perfect vitamin, or regulate your A1c. But it sure can help.
Thanks, Google
Today, Google has happy birthday number 12. Today, you can celebrate by doing a few Google searches and maybe even exploring some interesting Google trivia (like the fact that Google’s first name was BackRub). But it doesn’t matter whether you’re using Bing, Yahoo, MSN, Ask, AOL, or some other search engine. At the end of the day, you’re using Internet technology. You’re harnessing the power of millions of people, thousands of servers, billions of hours, trillions of dollars, and googols of bytes of information. And it’s a good thing.
When it comes to your health and the World Wide Web, how do you use the Internet?
By Daniel Threlfall
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