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Google contributes to society. Search helps people find information. YouTube is quite possibly the most prolific source of learning ever created. Without Googl

Google contributes to society. Search helps people find information. YouTube is quite possibly the most prolific source of learning ever created. Without Google Translate I'd have had a much harder time in a recent trip to Japan. There's a lot of bad, but no contribution to society? That's a bit much. Disclaimer: Ex-googler (left 2 years ago).

palata 1y ago
> Without Google Translate I'd have had a much harder time in a recent trip to Japan. I haven't used Google Translate in years. You do know there are alternatives, don't you?
- underdeserver 1y ago
  I do. I try them from time to time, they weren't better.
  - palata 1y ago
    I didn't say they were better. Just that without Google Translate, I doubt you would have had a much harder time in your recent trip to Japan because you could have used them, and they aren't particularly worse :-).
    - Tainnor 1y ago
      It's not just about whether you yourself use Google Translate, it's that - much more than anywhere else I've ever travelled - Japanese people will regularly use Google Translate to communicate with you, usually by typing or speaking into their tablet and then showing you the machine translation.
      - underdeserver 1y ago
        Actually in quite a few places there (mostly in Kyushu) they used a bespoke handheld device or DeepL.
  - Mithriil 1y ago
    Try out the big LLMs for translating and explaining translation (e.g. ChatGPT). Much better than Google translate in my experience.
    - GuinansEyebrows 1y ago
      I don't think switching to an LLM is exactly in line with what GP was trying to say :)
mrgoldenbrown 1y ago
They are actively enshittifying search and YouTube. So if these things are good for society, and Google is making them worse , it feels like we shouldn't be giving them too much credit.
justin66 1y ago
> YouTube is quite possibly the most prolific source of learning ever created. That's bizarre.

palata 1y ago

> Without Google Translate I'd have had a much harder time in a recent trip to Japan. I haven't used Google Translate in years. You do know there are alternatives, don't you?

underdeserver 1y ago
I do. I try them from time to time, they weren't better.
- palata 1y ago
  I didn't say they were better. Just that without Google Translate, I doubt you would have had a much harder time in your recent trip to Japan because you could have used them, and they aren't particularly worse :-).
  - Tainnor 1y ago
    It's not just about whether you yourself use Google Translate, it's that - much more than anywhere else I've ever travelled - Japanese people will regularly use Google Translate to communicate with you, usually by typing or speaking into their tablet and then showing you the machine translation.
    - underdeserver 1y ago
      Actually in quite a few places there (mostly in Kyushu) they used a bespoke handheld device or DeepL.
- Mithriil 1y ago
  Try out the big LLMs for translating and explaining translation (e.g. ChatGPT). Much better than Google translate in my experience.
  - GuinansEyebrows 1y ago
    I don't think switching to an LLM is exactly in line with what GP was trying to say :)

mrgoldenbrown 1y ago

They are actively enshittifying search and YouTube. So if these things are good for society, and Google is making them worse , it feels like we shouldn't be giving them too much credit.

justin66 1y ago

> YouTube is quite possibly the most prolific source of learning ever created. That's bizarre.