How the Internet search engine Google is changing what we can find out about one another -- and raising questions about whether we should. ... But somewhere along the path toward changing our daily lives, Google changed our concept of time as well. It has helped make our past -- or oddly refracted shards of it -- present and permanent. That's a radical notion for a medium usually defined by its ability to constantly update itself. ... perhaps you once went on a rant ... You may think those chapters are closed. Google begs to differ. "It's the collapse of inconvenience. It turns out inconvenience was a really important part of our lives, and we didn't realize it." "Instead of thinking, 'Was I curt last week?' I have to think about what happened when I was 17." This article was the cover story in the February 2 issue of The Boston Globe Magazine. (Why didn't I see it earlier?) A Nation of Voyeurs |