Too scared to shop online in case someone manages to get hold of your credit card details? Worried that faceless beings lurking in the worldwide interweb know more about you than your own family do? Think that The Matrix was a documentary?
If any of the above apply to you, I'd probably advise against checking out this video, a spoof documentary set in 2014, when Google controls the world.
Exploring what could happen if the search engine continues to snaffle up online enterprises (inlcuding Blogger and now YouTube), the video reaches its climax with the death of The New York Times, which has been rendered obselete by Googlezon, the multi-tentacled online octopus formed by the merger of Amazon and Google.
To be honest, I don't really fear for my future, even if Google does continue to expand. Yes, online retailers do know what we like to buy, and I regularly get recommendations from both Amazon and Tesco.
But if you're THAT worried about the dangers of shopping online, there is a solution. Don't.
There are high street retailers who will happily charge you 20 per cent more for the same product you would get online.
Paranoia in the face of technology is nothing new, from the days of the first hot air balloon flights shot down for fear they were demons to the present day.
A future where Amazon sends you recommendations based on your Google searches may not be everyone's cup of tea, but I have a potential solution (aside from the obvious 'Don't use Google or Amazon').
If we reach a stage where Googlezon becomes a reality, start throwing in occasional 'obtuse' search terms to confuse things.
My own personal suggestion would be 'bi-sexual goat fisting'. Let's see Amazon recommend something based on that.....
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