Earlier today I read an article on Maclean’s which argued whether Apple or Google had done more to change the world.  The author argued that Apple had simply refined what was already there, while Google had done something revolutionary.  My first thought was to side with Apple.  I use Google a LOT, but I use my iPhone a LOT MORE.  Of course, I have a Google App on my iPhone that I use too, so that kind of muddies the waters.  As I was debating with myself which is more important for me personally I realized something.  I was over thinking the question.   Let me give you an example.

I recently asked a friend of mine, “Why is the sky blue?”  They told me it’s about the light refracting through the water molecules in the air and so on.  I explained that they were over thinking it.   The answer is very simple.  The sky is blue because we’re told it is.  If we were told the sky is green, the sky would be green even though it would look exactly the same.

The same logic holds true for the Apple / Google question.  The answer is:  Neither one changed the world.  We are told that certain things changed the world.  The first stone tools, fire, bronze, iron, steam, electricity, splitting the atom were all “things that changed the world”.  Well, they weren’t.  What they did, was affect humanity’s ability to change the world.  This isn’t simple wordplay, it reflects our view of the world and our place in it.  All those things, from fire to Google, are just tools.  The idea that tools changed the world removes both our responsibility and our sense of engagement.

No tool ever changed the world.  Tools didn’t build the Pyramids, or the Eiffel Tower, or the Golden Gate Bridge.  No hammer ever drove a nail on it’s own.  My iPhone doesn’t write this blog.  Google doesn’t research a political issue unless I ask it too.  Tools don’t change anything.  People change and shape the world for better or for worse.  The printing press didn’t change the world.  People used the printing press to change the world.  Splitting the atom didn’t change the world.  What people decided to do with that tool, changed the world.

We aren’t used by our tools, we use them.  Our tools allow us to influence our world in unprecedented ways.  Whether that is a good or bad thing remains to be seen.  What we have to remember is that the choice is ours.  Tools don’t change anything.

Cheers, Winston