Missed one.

In my last message, when I was identifying potential origins for Skynet, I completely forgot about an extremely obvious one.

Google.

Google seems especially dangerous because everything they do and offer works so very well. What I am writing right this minute will soon be posted on a Google-affiliated site, Blogger. My primary email address is a Gmail one. The search engine I use, almost exclusively, is Google.

Do you know where the name Google comes from? According to the all-knowing Wikipedia, it was originally inspired by googol, which is the name of a very large number, namely 1 followed by 100 zeros. Somewhere along the line there was a spelling mistake, and thus Google was born.

I am beginning to suspect that I didn't really forget to add Google to the list in my last post. I think I may have been subconsciously influenced by Blogger. Or maybe I actually did add it to my list, but then Blogger automatically censored it. And then mind-wiped me as well.

I'll have to be more careful about this in the future.

Pay close attention.

I am an avid fan of science fiction, and a strong believer that science fiction is sometimes little more than foreshadowing of science fact. So I am always on the lookout for the place where Skynet may be born. (Skynet is very likely to give rise to humankind's mechanical adversaries in The Matrix Trilogy, and very possibly the villainous Borg. Although, it is probably quite terra-centric to think that the Borg will originate from us.)

For a long time, my suspicions centered around Microsoft. I know I was not alone. A global giant with tendrils pervading almost every corner of our highest technologies. I was a Windows user for a long time, and some small part of me couldn't help but feel guilty for lending support to the monster that might one day seek to enslave us all.

That small part of me felt much better several years ago when I switched to Mac. I don't think I'm ever going to go back. If I ever get around to learning Unix and Linux and the other "x"'s to a good enough degree, I might ditch both Windows and Mac altogether, but I don't see this happening.

At first I was deliriously happy, swept up in the wonders of machines that generally do not freeze and an entire subculture of hardware and software designed to be attractive and cool. But coolness and I have never been a particularly compatible couple, and the extreme hipness began to make me very nervous. I'll admit that the Mac and PC ads are very clever, and they definitely hit a particular cord with me. But I don't think it's a very good idea to alienate hardcore nerds. I don't think it's a very good idea at all.

So I became suspicious of Apple. It's a hipster juggernaut of coolness. And suddenly it's incredibly cool, and essentially necessary in this particular culture, to own some piece of Apple technology. And the names, oh the names. iPod, iBook, iPhone, iChat, iTunes.

iSkynet.

I've asked around, I've done internet research, I've inquired at Apple Stores. Nobody seems to know what the "i" is for. I don't either, but such a catchy naming technique with no basis other than catchiness makes me upset.

And don't even get me started on the Genius Bars. Yes, a cute little hipster girl wearing a shirt that says "Genius" is generally pretty hot. But even then it's almost impossible to miss the invisible stain of arrogance.

I don't know if I was alone in being so suspicious of Apple, at least with regard to the future subservience of mankind to machines. But recently I have identified a new threat. It is named Facebook.

I started out no more wary of Facebook than I was of Friendster or MySpace, or any of many similar types of sites. This is to say, I was pretty wary. But I saw them as mostly harmless, so long as you don't post any information on them that you wouldn't be comfortable having anyone in the world knowing. And I still believe that if you stick to this rule, there's no harm done. The trick is recognizing just how much information you're really giving them.

At some point I watched this video. I don't know how much of it is truth, but I think all of it is eminently believable. And eminently terrifying.

Not only are you forking over all the information about you that you explicitly post, but you are also revealing oodles of facts implicitly, in the form of your friends, your networks, your email addresses, etc. etc. etc. And is it really so hard to believe that somewhere out there is a government agency that's collecting and collating all of this information, just in case. Just in case. In case of what? It doesn't take too much thought to come up with some pretty scary substitutions for the word "what".

And Facebook just gets better and better. Tell everybody about your summer plans. (I can't actually remember any others, but they all strike me as creepily invasive.) And people fill these out happily! To be filed away for future use by anyone, or anything, that's watching!!

The latest change is the one that really floored me, and the one that inspired this entry. The opening screen now invites you to enter your email addresses and passwords, and Facebook will automatically go through your addressbooks and email Facebook invitations to everyone listed. Your email address and your passwords. Holy mother of pearl (who, incidentally, is Hester Prynne).

Does it really come as any surprise that Skynet may very well develope directly from the United States government, whether it be the visible component of the government or one of the less visible parts? Frankly, I'm not sure which makes me more nervous. The idea of Skynet having all of my personal information, or the idea of the current administration and co. having it.

So pay close attention. Keep your eyes peeled. It's only paranoia if you're wrong.