In the overarching grand scheme of things, what follows may seem
trivial, mundane and beneath Google’s awesome sense of importance to warrant an
official response of any kind. In any case, since Google has the technical
ability to manipulate search results, thereby doing more potential harm to US
democracy than any Russian hacker could imagine, the matter simply cannot go
unattended any longer.
Mr. Sundar
Pichai, as Google CEO, you are probably aware of a September 2016 article from Unz
Review that discusses the listing – or rather delisting – of a number of
American inventors, many of whom were household names once upon a time. But in
one fell swoop, Google seems to have – deliberately or otherwise – designated
these tinkering white guys to the digital dungeon.
To better
understand what I am talking about, I would kindly ask you to take a moment and
conduct a Google query for the subject ‘American inventors’.
Once the query is complete, you will see at the top of the page a horizontal,
photographic listing of individuals that Google offers as top examples of ‘American
inventors.’ Here, Mr. Pichai, is where I am greatly confused.
In the search
results provided, only two American inventors are of European lineage. They are
Thomas Edison (6th place), and Alexander Graham Bell (10th place). Scrolling
ahead further the situation does not improve for that diverse tribe of people
known as ‘European Americans.’ I regret to inform you that just one pale-face
representative of that talented race appears among the first 20 results.
To make things
easier, here are the first 35 names that appear when a person performs a Google
search for ‘American inventors’:
1. George
Washington Carver (1864-1943), African American
2. Lewis Howard
Latimer (1848-1928), African American
3. Garrett
Morgan (1877-1963), African American
4. Madam C.J.
Walker (1867-1919), African American
5. Elijah McCoy
(1844-1929), African American
6.
Thomas Edison (1847-1931), European American
7. Lonnie
Johnson (1949-), African American
8. Patricia
Bath (1942-), African American
9. Granville
Woods (1856-1910), African American
10.
Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922), European American
11. Jan Ernst
Matzeliger (1852-1889), African American
12. James
Edward Maceo West (1931-), African American
13. Frederick
McKinley Jones (1893-1961), African American
14. Thomas L.
Jennings (1791-1856), African American
15. Otis Boykin
(1920-1982), African American
16. Benjamin
Banneker (1731-1806), African American
17. Norbert
Rillieux (1806-1894), African American
18. Marie Van
Brittan Brown (1922-1999), African American
19. Sarah E.
Goode (1855-1905), African American
20. Percy Lavon
Julian (1899-1975), African American
21. Henry Blair
(1807-1860), African American
22. George
Robert Carruthers (1939-), African American
23.
Henry Ford (1863-1947), European American
24.
Eli Whitney (1765-1825), European American
25. Sarah Boone
(1832-1904), African American
26. Janet
Emerson Bashen (1957-), African American
27. Samuel
Morse (1791-1872), European American
28. Ben Montgomery
(1819-1877), African American
29. Valerie
Thomas (1943-), African American
30. Andrew
Jackson Beard (1849-1921), African American
31. David
Crosthwait (1898-1976), African American
32.
Nikola Tesla (1856-1943), European American
33.
Albert Einstein (1879-1955), European American
34. Marjorie
Joyner (1896-1994), African American
35. Alfred L.
Cralle (1866-1920), African American
Sir, I think we
could agree that something is wrong in Denmark. Thus, could you please relieve
my curiosity and explain, in simply layman’s terms with graphs and charts if
need be, how it is remotely conceivable that America’s most renowned
innovators, including, but certainly not limited to, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas
Jefferson, Cyrus McCormick, Nikola Tesla, Albert Einstein, the Wright Brothers,
Elias Howe, Robert Fulton, George Eastman, Jonas Salk, Steve Jobs and Bill
Gates all fail to feature in the top-30 search results for ‘American
inventors’?
Incredibly,
even the Wright Brothers, credited with being the first human beings to take
flight in an aircraft, went mysteriously missing over the Google Triangle,
nowhere to be found in the top 50 results! Has a search party been sent yet,
Mr. Pichai? These most honorable men deserve to be found!
I probably do
not need to tell you, sir, that of the top-20 ‘American inventors’ that Google
provides in its search results, only Thomas Edison (6) and Alexander Graham
Bell (10) appear like apparitions for Team Europe; all of the rest are African
American inventors (whom, by the way, I have nothing but the highest respect
for).
Henry Ford,
whose mass produced Model T automobile revolutionized American transport and
assembly line techniques, managed to get a spot at 23rd on the list.
Nikola Tesla, the inventor of the alternating current (AC) induction motor, the
power source used today in all commercial products, is certainly shocked to
find himself at the end of the line at 32; Albert Einstein, no idle mind, mind
you, fared worse at 33. Forgive my silly pun, sir, but relatively speaking
Einstein no longer exists!
Clearly,
something is seriously out of whack at your company, which conveniently passes
off any and all suspicious behavior to the mystical inner workings of The
Almighty Algorithm, the veritable god particle, as opposed to some deliberate
manipulation on the part of meddling men. This brings to mind the wily wizard
of Oz, the charlatan behind the curtain turning cranks and pulling levers in an
endless effort to keep people in a suspended state of awe at the spectacle of
some seemingly magical force that they are ill-equipped to rationalize. That
appears to be our relationship with Google today, Mr. Pichai, which I find most
regrettable.
Before
continuing, it goes without saying that I have no wish to denigrate the many
ingenious achievements and innovations of African Americans. This critique
should in no way be confused, of course, as some sort of racist screed, but
rather an argument that a reverse form of racism and discrimination appears to
be gnawing away at the innards of Google, which as you know firsthand embraces
the political and cultural values of the occasionally lunatic left. Perhaps you
would agree this is not a matter of conjecture.
Just last
month, the venerable Wall Street Journal reported on an
internal email making the circuits on Google campus in which your devoted
employees, distressed by Donald Trump’s just-announced plan for a travel ban
against seven Islamic countries over terrorism fears, banged around ways to
“leverage” search algorithms to tamp down such “islamophobic” tendencies.
Your
spokeswoman, Gina Scigliano, reassured everyone this was just one big rumor
burger, saying that “none of the ideas were put into effect.”
There’s just
one glaring problem with Gina’s happy assurances: there is absolutely no
possible way a single soul on Planet Google could prove or disprove her claim
unless you’d be willing to hand over the keys to the kingdom. And let’s be
honest, you have no more intention of doing that than you would voting
Republican in November, right?
Speaking of
elections, thanks to the whistle-blowing efforts of one of your jaded engineers,
James Damore, we already know that Google has some serious issues with
“politically conservative white men”. Apparently they are even booed and hissed
at during company meetings, which sound more like Orwellian 15 minute hate
sessions than anything. Would such misgivings for ‘privileged white males’ ever
translate into active efforts to downgrade the technological achievements of
these tinkering men, a beleaguered species that has been blamed for much of
what is wrong with the world today? I think it would be terribly unfortunate if
that were the case, but the writing on the wall speaks for itself.
We already know
that Google can monkey wrench search results because the search engine it is
developing for use in China – a perfectly innocuous operation code-named
‘Dragonfly’ – has the capability to censor undesirable results in accordance
with the desires of the Chinese government.
Now sir, let’s
be perfectly frank, not to be confused with Frank Lloyd Wright. If your
omnipotent company is willing to casually dismiss such moral and ethical
considerations to pacify a foreign (authoritarian) government, does it not
stand to reason that it may also be very tempted to implement those same
awesome powers to 'tweak' the political and cultural climate of the United
States more to its liking? You know, play God, if you will? Even if that may
mean sending the likes of the Wright Brothers, Henry Ford and Benjamin Franklin
straight down the memory hole? The desire to manipulate an algorithm here and
there, until it becomes modus operandi, is simply too tempting to honestly
believe that it is not happening at your company.
Mr. Pichai, it
is my belief, in light of all the issues I have just mentioned, that it is high
time to pull back the curtain on Google to ascertain whether or not it is
playing fair and square with the American people. Or, in the event that option
does not appeal to you, there is always the possibility of smashing Google up,
breaking its monopolistic grip over news and information. If it can happen to
Ma Bell, Sundar Pichai, it can certainly happen to you.