We’ve all had the sad and distressing problem of “googling” something and turning up NO results. It is hard to believe that among billions and billions of web pages, none of them contain information relevant to what you want to find, but it does happen.
Who is to blame when you reach the edge of the internet?
Is it you, for searching such esoteric terms? Is it Google, for failing to provide content from far enough and wide enough? Is it humanity, for failing to upload content about EVERYTHING knowable?
I am not sure about you, but from time to time I wonder about what percentage of my thoughts are “original” and what percentage have occurred in another person’s mind, somewhere else in time. Similarly, in this context I wonder how often I search for terms that no one has ever searched before.
When you speak of the “edge” of the internet, do you mean the point beyond which the internet no longer goes?
We all know the internet is not infinite, but is there anyone out there trying to figure out the shape of the internet or its borders?
Does Google (or any of the major search engines) map the “borders” of its internet domain?
How much of the internet is in no-mans land?
Which is growing faster, the portion of the net that is cataloged, or that which is not?
So many questions …
Only Google knows for sure. I expect it to go rampant (i.e. become self consious) at the end of 2012. Then it shall be called the Archivist.