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>Google started as a DARPA project, and was a great engine while it stayed true to that ethos. It was the need to commercialize it, thus setting perverse busine

>Google started as a DARPA project, and was a great engine while it stayed true to that ethos. It was the need to commercialize it, thus setting perverse business incentives, which has destroyed it. Google started as a what now? This is an interesting thing to say during a discussion of access to information. I'd be happy to read your explanation of Google's "DARPA roots", and your citations to sources explaining how that came about and how they were "destroyed" when they "strayed" from DARPA... that should be a fascinating read.

mellavora 4y ago
It is indeed a fascinating read. Here you go! https://qz.com/1145669/googles-true-origin-partly-lies-in-cia-and-nsa-research-grants-for-mass-surveillance/ https://qz.com/1145669/googles-true-origin-partly-lies-in-ci... >A second grant—the DARPA-NSF grant most closely associated with Google’s origin—was part of a coordinated effort to build a massive digital library using the internet as its backbone. Both grants funded research by two graduate students who were making rapid advances in web-page ranking, as well as tracking (and making sense of) user queries: future Google cofounders Sergey Brin and Larry Page. >The research by Brin and Page under these grants became the heart of Google: people using search functions to find precisely what they wanted inside a very large data set.
- softcactus 4y ago
  I always wondered how their initial python web scraper was fast enough to index the entire internet on that old hardware, even given the small size of the internet at the time. I guess the answer is that they had a local backup at Stanford. Thanks for sharing!
mellavora 4y ago
You also asked 'how they were "destroyed"' I refer you to some interesting discussion here: Google Search is Dying https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30347719 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30347719 1561 points Every Google result now looks like an ad https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22107823 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22107823 972 commments Google no longer producing high quality search results in significant categories https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29772136 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29772136 1275 comments

mellavora 4y ago

It is indeed a fascinating read. Here you go! https://qz.com/1145669/googles-true-origin-partly-lies-in-cia-and-nsa-research-grants-for-mass-surveillance/ https://qz.com/1145669/googles-true-origin-partly-lies-in-ci... >A second grant—the DARPA-NSF grant most closely associated with Google’s origin—was part of a coordinated effort to build a massive digital library using the internet as its backbone. Both grants funded research by two graduate students who were making rapid advances in web-page ranking, as well as tracking (and making sense of) user queries: future Google cofounders Sergey Brin and Larry Page. >The research by Brin and Page under these grants became the heart of Google: people using search functions to find precisely what they wanted inside a very large data set.

softcactus 4y ago
I always wondered how their initial python web scraper was fast enough to index the entire internet on that old hardware, even given the small size of the internet at the time. I guess the answer is that they had a local backup at Stanford. Thanks for sharing!

mellavora 4y ago

You also asked 'how they were "destroyed"' I refer you to some interesting discussion here: Google Search is Dying https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30347719 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30347719 1561 points Every Google result now looks like an ad https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22107823 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22107823 972 commments Google no longer producing high quality search results in significant categories https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29772136 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29772136 1275 comments