This is basically enshittification as coined by Cory Doctorow. You see the same thing on Amazon, the top links are always sponsored ads, frequently for items that even appear organically in their search a few items down. Basically, companies serve their customers up to the point where they have a big, locked-in user base, then pivot to serving other constituencies (employees, investors, partners, advertisers etc.) as the users aren’t going anywhere unless the user experience degrades to the point where users will consider alternatives despite the switching costs. So at this stage the goal of companies is to do as little for users as possible while not pissing them off so much they leave, resulting in user experience getting shittier and shittier over time.
If I am looking for something on amazon, I will go to a search engine and look for it, and then click the link to it, just so I can avoid all the sponsored rubbish and other advertisements, such as for credit cards etc, that clutter the page.
Well hey, when the company in question is on its way down, its execs can take a short position and make out like bandits while the employees and customers and advertisers eat a fat one. Everybody wins.
Wait..
For browsing, Brave and Yandex aren't too bad. Yandex even gives better results when looking for Substack content than Substack does.
There was a Reddit kerfuffle in which someone decided without much reason that the head of proton wasn’t sufficiently anti-Trump. (meanwhile, if I want a product review or opinion, I’m one of the people that searches Reddit. Highly imperfect but better than what I find on any general search.)
The truth is - the important thing is getting OFF Google and not getting stuck looking for a perfect solution. It’s a win if both Tuta and Proton succeed and attract other competitors. I chose proton because it’s less likely to be misspelled.
Brave is a fantastic browser and search alternative, by the way .
I personally use proton and brave and enjoy it. proton is completely fine and has free aliases and stuff so its easier to avoid spam. brave is just google but better and waay less ads- none on youtube or anything.
Enshittification was the first thought that popped up in my mind. I associated the word with social media platforms but never thought that Google would go this way. Yet I've been increasingly annoyed with having to scroll down past tons of irrelevant results to get to what I want. The Wikipedia entry for the thing I'm searching about is usually in the tenth position on the search page.
I think it’s pretty much a universal phenomenon for companies that achieve a large, locked-in user base, the same types of complaints were made against Ma Bell and Microsoft back in the day, resulting in legal action against them. Facebook, eBay, Reddit and on and on. The thing is, from their standpoint it totally makes sense, because why devote precious resources to an aspect of your business that is not that responsive to either more or fewer resources (because the user base is largely captive for one reason or another and you already have substantial market penetration).
Yeah, from a short term POV it doesn't make sense. But I think it erodes trust and love for the product over time, which is dangerous because it might not even show up on standard metrics. But this might make champions of the product indifferent to it, and the average consumer much more willing to switch if a better option comes along.
Well written, Ted, I'd like to remind all of your readers that you have many alternatives that won't sell your data, make a profit off of you, or sell your information to governments:
Email alternatives: ProtonMail, Posteo, Mailbox, Fastmail, Tutanota, and more.
Web Search Alternatives: Ecosia, Orion browser, DuckDuckGo, and more.
There's alternatives. They might cost you money. But you can feel better about not contributing to the climate problem with unnecessary AI summaries that are using serious amounts of energy. Some estimates put it nearly 6.9-8.0 WH of energy per search. Ten searches and you've already used a lightbulb for an entire hour. "They also found that generating two images with AI could use as much energy as the average smartphone charge."
I use DuckDuckGo browser to search for anything and I use their email service, too. If I really want to learn about something, I go to the library, physical or online, and read about it. The whole idea of searching for factoids with no connection to their broader context is a bad idea.
This has become increasingly highlighted by the value in hardware and analog. Someone with a library full of intellectual magazines as well as having collections of VHS, dvds, blue ray, etc. are increasingly becoming valuable again bc the gatekeepers want you to use their platform and nothing else and they have become substandard and horrible places to go.
We will likely always need to use both, but Apple and Disney are both trending towards only making their IP available through streaming. So many will be paywalled, plus you get so much great extra good and valuable information with hard copies and analog media.
Invest in the hardware and the space to keep up an intelligent library of valuable books that will prevent you from having to purchase your 500th paywall to access. Or it’s all in five places only so they can charge you inordinate prices and control what you get even after paying for their own reasons and self interests.
A great example is how Max has eliminated any way to stream the wonderful cartoons Warner Brothers were built on. You can only watch them currently if you have analog copies. There is so much they can eliminate in the future if they so choose. Don’t let them!!
In 50 years I only see this going exponentially up in value as the technocracy consolidates and most will have only one option unless the needed revolution happens.
Andrew, excellent points about alternatives. I also think that it’s a common fallacy that Google’s business is search. Yuval Harari reports a comment by Larry Page that general AI was always Google’s goal. This is in his book Nexus: a brief history of information networks. My own observations from being a doctoral student UIUC when Marc Andreesen was developing Netscape and spent some time in Palo researching electric power info networks resonate that (and later when Google digitized uni library books etc.)
Well, all ai generation takes place in server farms — so there is no impact on your personal phone. They’re using that metric as a way of explaining the sheer amount of energy a single image or search uses.
I think this is largely a transitional state - a lot of the graphic software I use can do AI functions either on-device or in-cloud and the in-cloud results tend to be delivered faster and, in some cases, are also better quality. But there is an upper limit on the cloud functions, after which you have to buy credits to use them - I would imagine that it is only a matter of time before the on-device functions deteriorate to being useless and the upper limit on free cloud functions becomes zero, at which point, instead of paying in terms of battery life on the local device, one will have no choice other than to pay in dollars for server-generated results that are actually usable.
My photo editing has some AI embedded into it for some functions. I can tell you that when using those functions, the battery on my laptop drains 20 times faster than it normally does. You can almost visibly see the indicator go down- it seriously hits SOOO much energy
Like Google, Scientific American has lost much of its reputation over the last several years. It's now as trustworthy as the National Enquirer or msnbc.
I know this is rather late -- but the Orion browser by Kaga is the closest that I am aware of. The search is harder to get used to, but seriously powerful in that it won't show you the results that are simply paid to be shown.
Be warned, DuckDuckGo is partnered with Google, and apparently has it's own set of shady data practices. I recommend this article if you're looking for alternatives that will protect your privacy.
That was very short lived. They realised quickly there has always been less money in that - counter to the Cap motto - Thou must maximise shareholder value
Google started out not being evil, but went down the well trodden FAANGS path. FAANGS: Facebook (Meta), Amazon, Apple, (Microsoft) Netflix*, and Google (Alphabet)
[* Netflix, Hastings & Randolph, is the oddball, its founders come from privilege, but Netflix starts with an "N," whereas Microsoft .... ]
On the other hand, Faucistbook was evil from day "1".
I have never liked Google and won't have anything to do with the company anymore. I use Duck Duck Go for searches. I'm sure it has some AI too, but it emphasizes privacy. Unfortunately, it's getting to the point where, to avoide AI and all the tracking for monetization purposes, we're almost being forced to go analog again. That might not be a bad thing. Imagine! Real books, physical games with real people, visits, parties, concerts. What a concept!
I keep telling my "phone friends"(people that are still REALLY into their phones, which is pretty much everyone i know:/) that cds are gonna make a comeback. They just laugh at this silly old(im 44) man. Whatever, i moved away from yt a couple years ago bc it was ruining my music listening experience, before i knew about the algorithims and all the other crap they stream into the minds of users.
Anyway my point is thats a concept i can get behind! What i would spend on streaming or subscriptions(teds is the only exception) i spend on cds, dvds, and books. This is the counter culture right here! Remember life? Real life? Its still out here!
Idek how long ill stay on substack, i see alot of the toxicity of other platforms gaining strong footholds here, and its offputting. Idt its escapable online..
Ok youngster, 65 years old here but an early adopter of a lot of this stuff and I just wanted to chime in that I think you’re onto something with the whole cd thing- all these podcasts, audio output etc, it’s so huge. Curating what’s good and playing it in that environment people spend more time in than their homes, their cars. Genius. Let me know how it goes.
Its going great! 15 bucks for a cd(average, some are alot cheaper, some rare ones are more), i press play once and can walk away, not constantly being beckoned back by an app thats jealous of my time(and it knows when you walk away), no shit ads or monthly fees. I control the musical experience i have, not "it". No need for signal or wifi. These are the reasons i went back to cds. It was after that i learned about yts algorithm and how much it manipulates users.
I still use yt to check out new(new new or new to me) music. If i like it i go to discogs(or amazon, mixtape channel, etc) and buy the cd. Which brings us to the only hang up; alot of new new music is hard to find on cd. So my next step is to set myself up to download and burn cds(ofc this could be simplified with an mp3 player, but idk.. i like the cds lol).
Admittedly i spend more on cds than 15 bucks a month. But i OWN those cds. Im still listening to cds i bought in high school.
I love music, its a constant throughout my day. Yt is already enshittified, and if i still used it, that means my life would be enshittified, right lol?
I’m in my early 20s and many of my friends are collecting physical media (CDs, DVDs). I rarely use streaming platforms. Spotify is the last one I use on a regular basis, but I’m moving away from it.
Virginia, good for you getting off Google Search - Google exemplifies platform power (also sometimes referred to as negative network effects or what Corey D called enshittification) and Jaron Lanier explains as a BUMMER company Behavior of Users Modified and Made into Empires for Rent. These companies will never change unless they start losing users (and money).
I guess I am really out of it because always this endless talk of searches ,searches ,searches. I bet I don't even do one a day - maybe not even every few days ...
One thing I hate about modern business philosophy is the no company is content to just do one thing and do it well. That's what Google once was - a search engine so superior to the competition that it was damn near a natural monopoly. But every corporation's shareholders get greedy and demand that businesses continue to grow, grow, grow - which in tech often means dipping their toes into as many different pools as they can (or, recently, dipping their biggest toe possible into the AI pool). Google was great when it did one thing and mastered it, and business was still booming. That business model would still be netting Google billions in ad dollars too. But billions are never enough - the line must always go up into eternity, and companies like Google will ruin themselves chasing that forever high.
Its business practices are evil, yes, but calling it satanic doesn't fix anything. The fact is that they had a good product at one time that actually helped people accomplish things they wanted to accomplish. Google's greed made it turn evil, I am simply pointing out that Google's greed is not exclusive to it as a company, and its approach to business has become commonplace and is the driving force behind our deteriorating economy.
A quibble: hotel California seems more apt than roach motel -- "You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave" -- given the location of Silicon Valley.
Many thanks for this excellent piece. I agree with you completely, of course, and I'd like to add a few comments about YouTube, which Google has owned since late 2006.
I have been frustrated to the point of despair by a total inability to "search" on YouTube. For example, I might be interested in a performance of a given sonata for piano and violin by Beethoven, but specifically one played on period instruments (as opposed to our contemporary ones). I dutifully punch in the title, composer, and "period instruments"...and wait.
First, I'll get a totally contemporary performance (or several of them). Then, if I'm lucky (and well-behaved?), I'll get one on period instruments. However, THAT performance may be played at a tempo I don't like, so I'd like to hear another. I scroll down the page only to find:
(1) Videos of professional wrestling. (2) Recordings of the 9th Symphony (well, at least it's Beethoven). (3) Clips/snippets from movies. (4) Other completely unrelated videos.
The horror is enhanced by the fact that five years ago, I would find several recordings of the given sonata on period instruments, one after the other... Today? I have actually punched in titles only to find works in different structural forms written by a completely different composer (along with all the other videos, including topics of no interest whatsoever).
I believe these distorted "searches" are quite deliberate, but I also fear we can't do anything about them. There are some Google alternatives out there. Permit me to present a few, just for reference:
(1) www.refseek.com = Academic Resource Search. More than a billion sources: encyclopedia, monographies, magazines.
(2) www.worldcat.org = a search for the contents of 20 thousand worldwide libraries. Find out where lies the nearest rare book you need.
(3) https://link.springer.com = access to more than 10 million scientific documents: books, articles, research protocols.
(4) www.bioline.org.br = a library of scientific bioscience journals published in developing countries.
(5) http://repec.org = volunteers from 102 countries have collected almost 4 million publications on economics and related science.
(6) www.science.gov = an American state search engine on 2200+ scientific sites. More than 200 million articles are indexed.
(7) www.base-search.net = one of the most powerful researches on academic studies texts. More than 100 million scientific documents, 70% of them are free
*****
Free AI search engines, not related to Google:
(1) On the Bing search home page, click the Chat or Copilot button underneath the search window and you’ll get a conversational interface where you type your question.
Youtube is a repository for millions of videos but unfortunately, Youtube search is so terrible it is next to impossible to actually find those videos. They may as well not exist on the platform.
I do not believe their "search" features were that bad even five years ago. I am also sure that Google has a lot to do with the selections that now spring up (think advertising revenues!).
I like how J.J. Burt's piece focuses on how the Roman Empire survived in its eastern form as what would later be called the Byzantine Empire. Many with a passable knowledge of the Roman Empire fail to realize it lasted until 1453 AD.
When Google introduced AI answers at the top of the search page and there was no way to turn it off, it was the final straw. I switched to Duck Duck Go. I'm not saying it's any better, but it does have a lot more options regarding the content that displays when perform a search.
I am also very, very sick of Microsoft's intrusive, bullying practices, trying to force saving to the cloud etc. As a user of Office since its inception, I have seen the deliberate degradation of its products all in the name of capturing your data and destroying your privacy. I cannot wait for a viable alternative to enter the market. That, or I'll get so sick of it that anything will be a better alternative.
LibreOffice is a great MSO alternative. It is free and OpenOffice. Its tools for converting files of all kinds especially Word formats is worth it all. But I also like how it handles images, videos in documents as well. There is a similar one called Apache.
I tried using LibreOffice for a year (I work as a freelance editor). Unfortunately, about 1-2% of the time it simply cannot handle something in Word, and as a result in many instances my clients require contractually that I use Office.
I was using Libre for a time, especially for spreadsheets, then fell into a period when I did very little of that. When I started to resume, I found too many complications for doing a simple job, having forgotten most of what I used to know about it. This is aggravated by the lack of real documentation, which it shares with practically everything else now. So my question: Is there somewhere something like a user manual for the thing? Maybe even on paper? Even maybe more than one book, for different uses? (When LibreOffice was new, there was a real printed document, but it was pretty bad. Now, is there anything at all?)
I have come to despise MS. My Outlook email account was stolen in identity theft and despite filing out a recovery form numerous times I never heard back (impossible to talk to a human in support). Would love to get rid of Office, but am a power user of Word having been a technical writer and editor for 20 years. I know all the tricks and shortcuts that might be missing in other products.
Am a fledgling author and have been using writer’s software called Scrivener. I used it to publish my first book. Am very happy with it. The product costs only $60 and can be installed on multiple PCs.
Glad you are happy with it. I found it more cumbersome, despite wanting so much to love it. But the synching with Dropbox was what killed it for me. It ended up freezing the documents I had created on it. I know many love it though. Maybe if they allowed other platforms to synch?
I asked Google “Is Ted Gioia obsessive?” Just ‘cos one can. Here’s the AI answer:
Based on descriptions of his work, particularly his book "Music: A Subversive History," Ted Gioia is often characterized as "obsessive" due to the incredibly detailed and extensive research he undertakes when exploring the history of music across various cultures and time periods, with reviewers frequently highlighting the ambitious and deeply researched nature of his writing.
Key points about Gioia's "obsessive" approach:
Depth of Research:
His writings delve into a vast array of musical topics, often tracing the evolution of music from ancient civilizations to the present day, covering obscure details and connections that many other writers might overlook.
Broad Scope:
Gioia's work isn't limited to a specific genre or region, instead aiming to provide a comprehensive global perspective on music history.
Critical Acclaim with Caveats:
While praised for his thoroughness, some critics have noted that the sheer scale of his research can sometimes lead to a sprawling narrative that may not always be easily digestible.
You might take that as a compliment - or you might forgo your daily rock consumption and throw the rock in Google’s general direction. You’d almost certainly hit something.
Personally, I have a very high opinion of your work, much higher than I have Google’s poorly written AI gobbledegook.
Funnily enough, there is One Weird Trick to get Google’s search AI to shut up: insert profanity into your search. Despite having a supercharged talking dictionary in its servers, Google’s search models are so averse to four-letter words that they simply don’t activate.
“turn off google AI” gets you AI slop; “turn off the f&$@ing AI” gets you straight to the links.
When everything on the internet is upside own, it brings into relief why the importance of interacting with real people, reading physical books, and honing memory, writing, and critical thinking skills will prevail.
Google is serves up "blancmange" information that will lead to a general decline of knowledge. My husband Peco and I wrote about this in "The Flavors of Faux History" https://schooloftheunconformed.substack.com/p/the-flavors-of-faux-history-preparing, and Ted makes it abundantly clear that Google serves to degrade our search for knowledge.
Excellent analysis. 🧐. I would however elevate reason 4. Before AI 🤖 , Google decided to whore out search to advertising and paid placement to the point that Google search is like stone soup.
I have been using Perplexity for search and much better than Google. Of course now we’re getting the AI version of SEO so the battle continues
I have found Perplexity excellent for many tasks, including as a Google replacement where I need to find a very specific piece of information. For example, finding the fax number for a specific medical suite in a large hospital where the hospital’s own website is impossible to navigate and Google serves up pages of ads and links to other hospitals, services and products. Yes, I still use a fax🤭
I like the Brave browser. Much better than DuckDuckGo (which uses MS Bing). After just now reading their website, I am convinced to switch to Brave. Also I use LibreOffice for a MSOffice alternative, which is great, especially at converting files. And it is free/OpenOffice.
Now to tackle email. You can, of course, just say No to Gmail but apparently it is not easy to actually remove from your computer entirely. Well aware of Proton but do you know anyone using it? Seems cumbersome and the end-to-end encryption is apparently not what it seems either. And yes there is easy iCloud but . . . do we really trust Apple anymore?
This is getting soooo complicated. I would rather just can the whole scam — go no tech. Or maybe just never on Sundays. . .
You can use any browser with the DuckDuckGo search engine. My browser is Mozilla Firefox and my search engine is DuckDuckGo (I've had this set-up for about 15 years). There's no need whatsoever to use Bing, Google, Yahoo, or have any of them on your computer/phone.
And yes, I use Proton email, so now you sort of know someone who uses it. ;-) It's not cumbersome once you learn about it. Like anything new, there's a learning curve.
I have been using DDG for years, but now they have AI Assist. Hate that. I get the value of paying for email vs free. But doesn’t Proton NOT encrypt when emailing to non-Proton user? And require an acknowledgement from a recipient before reading email?
Yes, DuckDuckGo does have the option for AI Assist, but you can turn that completely off in settings. I have done it and haven't seen hide nor hair from their "assistant" since.
This is how I do it on Windows 10, so it may vary somewhat depending on your device and system:
* On DuckDuckGo's search page, click on the SETTINGS "gear" icon
* A SEARCH SETTINGS pop-up window appears
* Click on ALL SEARCH SETTINGS
* 4 tab options appear at the top (GENERAL, APPEARANCE, PRIVACY, AI FEATURES)
* Click on the AI FEATURES tab
* You can now turn off their AI Assist and their Chat features
With respect to Proton:
* Proton User email to Proton User email is automatically encrypted.
* Proton User email to NON-Proton User email is NOT automatically encrypted, but can be encrypted with the use of a password. The recipient can open the email by either, 1) you informing them of what the password is (via text, phone call, etc) or, 2) figuring out the password via a "hint" that you provide (the recipient sees the "hint" when they try to open the email).
* The NON-Proton User can reply securely to your email as long as they hit the "Reply Securely" button within the secure email you sent them. If they just simply copy your Proton email address into, let's say, a newly composed email from their Gmail account, and then contact you that way, then no, it is not secure.
* If they reply to you via the "Reply Securely" button, then you can reply back to them and just set the password again. It can be the exact same password, and you can go back and forth that way communicating securely.
Thank you for the detailed help. A very welcome use of Substack, yes?
But how do you find non-Proton people reacting to using Proton passwords? And isn’t texting nonsecure? Happy to hear that a phone call can be so useful. And does Proton act this way to non-Proton users with other secure email system?
Well, here's how I use Proton email. If I am communicating information that I don't want people's eyes on (other than the recipient), then I use Proton. If I'm just sending somebody some non-important info, then I may use another email service.
In terms of family and friends: They have no issue with the password/hint protocol, in fact sometimes they find it funny because they have to recall something that only the two of us know. And remember, if you are having a lengthier conversation that will require email responses going back and forth, you only have to ask them to remember one password...and then you just keep reusing (setting) that password as you continue to reply to their responses.
In terms of other people: When I have had to send info to, let's say, a business dealing with a financial issue or a medical facility dealing with health information, I just tell them upfront that I will not send that kind of information via an unencrypted email service and that I have a means to send it to them securely and will provide them with a password to access the email. I have never had anyone take issue with it, but that's just been my experience. Most people understand that protecting that kind of data is important, and if they don't, they need to be thinking about it...so I sort of see it as a way to spread the word! And hopefully in time it will make encrypted email services more mainstream (and given what's going on in our country these days, it might happen sooner than later).
In terms of texting: Sure it's not secure and neither is a phone call if someone is eavesdropping. However, remember that you are on two completely different platforms. In other words, unless somebody with some real power REALLY wants to access your emails and has the ability to eavesdrop on your phone calls 24/7 and watch your texts all at the same time, I think you're pretty safe! What I would do, though, if I were texting someone, is I would be discreet and just simply send the password. I would not text, "Hi Jessica, here is the password for the Proton email I'm about to send you detailing my medical history." Most times, though, with businesses, I make a phone call. With family and friends, I usually use hints.
With respect to your last question, I honestly don't know the answer to that.
Oh, one last thing regarding unsecure texts. You might want to check out Signal. I have a feeling more folks will be downloading it in the days/weeks/months to come. However, in order to use Signal, your recipient must have it as well. Signal will not/can not send a text to a non-Signal user.
I have the Brave browser on my MacBook and it works great, along with LibreOffice. Speaking of — I am considering a trade-in on my iPhone 15 so that I can get better desktop computer and stop having phone in hand usage.
I agree. Suddenly, I have to find a new search engine as Google is nothing but links to social media posts from Reddit and Quora. I also need a different email from GMail, and different social media. I can’t stand fb anymore.
This is basically enshittification as coined by Cory Doctorow. You see the same thing on Amazon, the top links are always sponsored ads, frequently for items that even appear organically in their search a few items down. Basically, companies serve their customers up to the point where they have a big, locked-in user base, then pivot to serving other constituencies (employees, investors, partners, advertisers etc.) as the users aren’t going anywhere unless the user experience degrades to the point where users will consider alternatives despite the switching costs. So at this stage the goal of companies is to do as little for users as possible while not pissing them off so much they leave, resulting in user experience getting shittier and shittier over time.
Enshittification is my favorite word.
That is a good word.
If I am looking for something on amazon, I will go to a search engine and look for it, and then click the link to it, just so I can avoid all the sponsored rubbish and other advertisements, such as for credit cards etc, that clutter the page.
"Good News! You have been selected to receive the NEW Pay Pal Credit card ! All you ................................."
Well hey, when the company in question is on its way down, its execs can take a short position and make out like bandits while the employees and customers and advertisers eat a fat one. Everybody wins.
Wait..
For browsing, Brave and Yandex aren't too bad. Yandex even gives better results when looking for Substack content than Substack does.
I’m trying to decide between the two: Proton and Tutamail. Why do you think Tuta is better?
There was a Reddit kerfuffle in which someone decided without much reason that the head of proton wasn’t sufficiently anti-Trump. (meanwhile, if I want a product review or opinion, I’m one of the people that searches Reddit. Highly imperfect but better than what I find on any general search.)
The truth is - the important thing is getting OFF Google and not getting stuck looking for a perfect solution. It’s a win if both Tuta and Proton succeed and attract other competitors. I chose proton because it’s less likely to be misspelled.
Brave is a fantastic browser and search alternative, by the way .
I personally use proton and brave and enjoy it. proton is completely fine and has free aliases and stuff so its easier to avoid spam. brave is just google but better and waay less ads- none on youtube or anything.
Enshittification was the first thought that popped up in my mind. I associated the word with social media platforms but never thought that Google would go this way. Yet I've been increasingly annoyed with having to scroll down past tons of irrelevant results to get to what I want. The Wikipedia entry for the thing I'm searching about is usually in the tenth position on the search page.
“Enshittification” now applies to EVERYTHING. Literally everything.
Yes it’s baked into every standard business plan.
It was once hard to imagine how you could enshittify a search engine, or why you would want to, but they effing pulled it off.
"He actually did it, the absolute madman." Reminds me of that meme haha
I think it’s pretty much a universal phenomenon for companies that achieve a large, locked-in user base, the same types of complaints were made against Ma Bell and Microsoft back in the day, resulting in legal action against them. Facebook, eBay, Reddit and on and on. The thing is, from their standpoint it totally makes sense, because why devote precious resources to an aspect of your business that is not that responsive to either more or fewer resources (because the user base is largely captive for one reason or another and you already have substantial market penetration).
Yeah, from a short term POV it doesn't make sense. But I think it erodes trust and love for the product over time, which is dangerous because it might not even show up on standard metrics. But this might make champions of the product indifferent to it, and the average consumer much more willing to switch if a better option comes along.
Well written, Ted, I'd like to remind all of your readers that you have many alternatives that won't sell your data, make a profit off of you, or sell your information to governments:
Email alternatives: ProtonMail, Posteo, Mailbox, Fastmail, Tutanota, and more.
Web Search Alternatives: Ecosia, Orion browser, DuckDuckGo, and more.
There's alternatives. They might cost you money. But you can feel better about not contributing to the climate problem with unnecessary AI summaries that are using serious amounts of energy. Some estimates put it nearly 6.9-8.0 WH of energy per search. Ten searches and you've already used a lightbulb for an entire hour. "They also found that generating two images with AI could use as much energy as the average smartphone charge."
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-do-googles-ai-answers-cost-the-environment/
I use DuckDuckGo browser to search for anything and I use their email service, too. If I really want to learn about something, I go to the library, physical or online, and read about it. The whole idea of searching for factoids with no connection to their broader context is a bad idea.
Not only that - no need to sit through a commercial to be able to "Skip" to the vid. I'm am pretty sure that ability to skip will disappear soon ...
This has become increasingly highlighted by the value in hardware and analog. Someone with a library full of intellectual magazines as well as having collections of VHS, dvds, blue ray, etc. are increasingly becoming valuable again bc the gatekeepers want you to use their platform and nothing else and they have become substandard and horrible places to go.
We will likely always need to use both, but Apple and Disney are both trending towards only making their IP available through streaming. So many will be paywalled, plus you get so much great extra good and valuable information with hard copies and analog media.
Invest in the hardware and the space to keep up an intelligent library of valuable books that will prevent you from having to purchase your 500th paywall to access. Or it’s all in five places only so they can charge you inordinate prices and control what you get even after paying for their own reasons and self interests.
A great example is how Max has eliminated any way to stream the wonderful cartoons Warner Brothers were built on. You can only watch them currently if you have analog copies. There is so much they can eliminate in the future if they so choose. Don’t let them!!
In 50 years I only see this going exponentially up in value as the technocracy consolidates and most will have only one option unless the needed revolution happens.
Andrew, excellent points about alternatives. I also think that it’s a common fallacy that Google’s business is search. Yuval Harari reports a comment by Larry Page that general AI was always Google’s goal. This is in his book Nexus: a brief history of information networks. My own observations from being a doctoral student UIUC when Marc Andreesen was developing Netscape and spent some time in Palo researching electric power info networks resonate that (and later when Google digitized uni library books etc.)
I’ve been using Startpage search engine for quite some time but in fact I know nothing about it. Startpage may be toxic too.
I did not know this. Does it drain phone batteries faster?
Well, all ai generation takes place in server farms — so there is no impact on your personal phone. They’re using that metric as a way of explaining the sheer amount of energy a single image or search uses.
I think this is largely a transitional state - a lot of the graphic software I use can do AI functions either on-device or in-cloud and the in-cloud results tend to be delivered faster and, in some cases, are also better quality. But there is an upper limit on the cloud functions, after which you have to buy credits to use them - I would imagine that it is only a matter of time before the on-device functions deteriorate to being useless and the upper limit on free cloud functions becomes zero, at which point, instead of paying in terms of battery life on the local device, one will have no choice other than to pay in dollars for server-generated results that are actually usable.
Unless your phone is not plugged in, then it drains your battery far faster, requiring more charging, sooooo……
My photo editing has some AI embedded into it for some functions. I can tell you that when using those functions, the battery on my laptop drains 20 times faster than it normally does. You can almost visibly see the indicator go down- it seriously hits SOOO much energy
Except electric cars at least have a real use, the others……
Like Google, Scientific American has lost much of its reputation over the last several years. It's now as trustworthy as the National Enquirer or msnbc.
Finally someone who not simply analyze the problem, but also talk about solution/alternatives.
Thank you Andrew.
Are there any search engines that operate with a paid subscription model, offering results comparable to Google?
I know this is rather late -- but the Orion browser by Kaga is the closest that I am aware of. The search is harder to get used to, but seriously powerful in that it won't show you the results that are simply paid to be shown.
Be warned, DuckDuckGo is partnered with Google, and apparently has it's own set of shady data practices. I recommend this article if you're looking for alternatives that will protect your privacy.
https://open.substack.com/pub/beyondthefirewall/p/why-i-dropped-google-and-microsoft?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=5cfvf4
Thanks for sharing.
The most ironic part is that Google’s original motto was “Don’t be evil.”
That was very short lived. They realised quickly there has always been less money in that - counter to the Cap motto - Thou must maximise shareholder value
That's more than a motto, it's the law that drives the consumptive machine.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dodge_v._Ford_Motor_Co. - established the principle of shareholder primacy.
Google started out not being evil, but went down the well trodden FAANGS path. FAANGS: Facebook (Meta), Amazon, Apple, (Microsoft) Netflix*, and Google (Alphabet)
[* Netflix, Hastings & Randolph, is the oddball, its founders come from privilege, but Netflix starts with an "N," whereas Microsoft .... ]
On the other hand, Faucistbook was evil from day "1".
I have never liked Google and won't have anything to do with the company anymore. I use Duck Duck Go for searches. I'm sure it has some AI too, but it emphasizes privacy. Unfortunately, it's getting to the point where, to avoide AI and all the tracking for monetization purposes, we're almost being forced to go analog again. That might not be a bad thing. Imagine! Real books, physical games with real people, visits, parties, concerts. What a concept!
I keep telling my "phone friends"(people that are still REALLY into their phones, which is pretty much everyone i know:/) that cds are gonna make a comeback. They just laugh at this silly old(im 44) man. Whatever, i moved away from yt a couple years ago bc it was ruining my music listening experience, before i knew about the algorithims and all the other crap they stream into the minds of users.
Anyway my point is thats a concept i can get behind! What i would spend on streaming or subscriptions(teds is the only exception) i spend on cds, dvds, and books. This is the counter culture right here! Remember life? Real life? Its still out here!
Idek how long ill stay on substack, i see alot of the toxicity of other platforms gaining strong footholds here, and its offputting. Idt its escapable online..
Substack’s passed 7 years - ripe for enshittification
Ok youngster, 65 years old here but an early adopter of a lot of this stuff and I just wanted to chime in that I think you’re onto something with the whole cd thing- all these podcasts, audio output etc, it’s so huge. Curating what’s good and playing it in that environment people spend more time in than their homes, their cars. Genius. Let me know how it goes.
Its going great! 15 bucks for a cd(average, some are alot cheaper, some rare ones are more), i press play once and can walk away, not constantly being beckoned back by an app thats jealous of my time(and it knows when you walk away), no shit ads or monthly fees. I control the musical experience i have, not "it". No need for signal or wifi. These are the reasons i went back to cds. It was after that i learned about yts algorithm and how much it manipulates users.
I still use yt to check out new(new new or new to me) music. If i like it i go to discogs(or amazon, mixtape channel, etc) and buy the cd. Which brings us to the only hang up; alot of new new music is hard to find on cd. So my next step is to set myself up to download and burn cds(ofc this could be simplified with an mp3 player, but idk.. i like the cds lol).
Admittedly i spend more on cds than 15 bucks a month. But i OWN those cds. Im still listening to cds i bought in high school.
I love music, its a constant throughout my day. Yt is already enshittified, and if i still used it, that means my life would be enshittified, right lol?
Ps, cds work in your home too;) The audio equipment isnt as easy to find these days, but its still out there, for now...
I’m in my early 20s and many of my friends are collecting physical media (CDs, DVDs). I rarely use streaming platforms. Spotify is the last one I use on a regular basis, but I’m moving away from it.
You don’t even have to spend money on CDs, DVDs, and Books — you can get them at a library! The alternative to Google has never gone away…
Virginia,
In terms of the AI function on Duck Duck Go, you can shut that off in their settings.
Good to know. Thanks.
Virginia, good for you getting off Google Search - Google exemplifies platform power (also sometimes referred to as negative network effects or what Corey D called enshittification) and Jaron Lanier explains as a BUMMER company Behavior of Users Modified and Made into Empires for Rent. These companies will never change unless they start losing users (and money).
I guess I am really out of it because always this endless talk of searches ,searches ,searches. I bet I don't even do one a day - maybe not even every few days ...
One thing I hate about modern business philosophy is the no company is content to just do one thing and do it well. That's what Google once was - a search engine so superior to the competition that it was damn near a natural monopoly. But every corporation's shareholders get greedy and demand that businesses continue to grow, grow, grow - which in tech often means dipping their toes into as many different pools as they can (or, recently, dipping their biggest toe possible into the AI pool). Google was great when it did one thing and mastered it, and business was still booming. That business model would still be netting Google billions in ad dollars too. But billions are never enough - the line must always go up into eternity, and companies like Google will ruin themselves chasing that forever high.
Well said. The “perpetual growth” model of humans will be our downfall.
“Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell.” Edward Abbey
We're encouraged to practice moderation as individuals...I wonder if the same practices would benefit businesses as well?
Its business practices are evil, yes, but calling it satanic doesn't fix anything. The fact is that they had a good product at one time that actually helped people accomplish things they wanted to accomplish. Google's greed made it turn evil, I am simply pointing out that Google's greed is not exclusive to it as a company, and its approach to business has become commonplace and is the driving force behind our deteriorating economy.
A quibble: hotel California seems more apt than roach motel -- "You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave" -- given the location of Silicon Valley.
Many thanks for this excellent piece. I agree with you completely, of course, and I'd like to add a few comments about YouTube, which Google has owned since late 2006.
I have been frustrated to the point of despair by a total inability to "search" on YouTube. For example, I might be interested in a performance of a given sonata for piano and violin by Beethoven, but specifically one played on period instruments (as opposed to our contemporary ones). I dutifully punch in the title, composer, and "period instruments"...and wait.
First, I'll get a totally contemporary performance (or several of them). Then, if I'm lucky (and well-behaved?), I'll get one on period instruments. However, THAT performance may be played at a tempo I don't like, so I'd like to hear another. I scroll down the page only to find:
(1) Videos of professional wrestling. (2) Recordings of the 9th Symphony (well, at least it's Beethoven). (3) Clips/snippets from movies. (4) Other completely unrelated videos.
The horror is enhanced by the fact that five years ago, I would find several recordings of the given sonata on period instruments, one after the other... Today? I have actually punched in titles only to find works in different structural forms written by a completely different composer (along with all the other videos, including topics of no interest whatsoever).
I believe these distorted "searches" are quite deliberate, but I also fear we can't do anything about them. There are some Google alternatives out there. Permit me to present a few, just for reference:
(1) www.refseek.com = Academic Resource Search. More than a billion sources: encyclopedia, monographies, magazines.
(2) www.worldcat.org = a search for the contents of 20 thousand worldwide libraries. Find out where lies the nearest rare book you need.
(3) https://link.springer.com = access to more than 10 million scientific documents: books, articles, research protocols.
(4) www.bioline.org.br = a library of scientific bioscience journals published in developing countries.
(5) http://repec.org = volunteers from 102 countries have collected almost 4 million publications on economics and related science.
(6) www.science.gov = an American state search engine on 2200+ scientific sites. More than 200 million articles are indexed.
(7) www.base-search.net = one of the most powerful researches on academic studies texts. More than 100 million scientific documents, 70% of them are free
*****
Free AI search engines, not related to Google:
(1) On the Bing search home page, click the Chat or Copilot button underneath the search window and you’ll get a conversational interface where you type your question.
https://www.bing.com/?toWww=1&redig=284CE896CA8C4A4185093CCB73AF9B58
(2) HuggingChat https://huggingface.co/chat/
(3) you.com
(4) AskAI https://iask.ai/
Youtube is a repository for millions of videos but unfortunately, Youtube search is so terrible it is next to impossible to actually find those videos. They may as well not exist on the platform.
I do not believe their "search" features were that bad even five years ago. I am also sure that Google has a lot to do with the selections that now spring up (think advertising revenues!).
I like how J.J. Burt's piece focuses on how the Roman Empire survived in its eastern form as what would later be called the Byzantine Empire. Many with a passable knowledge of the Roman Empire fail to realize it lasted until 1453 AD.
Interesting that 1453 was about the time that printing presses gave more people access to books.
True. The earliest surviving book from Italy is dated 1465. I did a lot of research on early printing for my novel OCTAVO. Fascinating stuff.
When Google introduced AI answers at the top of the search page and there was no way to turn it off, it was the final straw. I switched to Duck Duck Go. I'm not saying it's any better, but it does have a lot more options regarding the content that displays when perform a search.
I am also very, very sick of Microsoft's intrusive, bullying practices, trying to force saving to the cloud etc. As a user of Office since its inception, I have seen the deliberate degradation of its products all in the name of capturing your data and destroying your privacy. I cannot wait for a viable alternative to enter the market. That, or I'll get so sick of it that anything will be a better alternative.
LibreOffice is a great MSO alternative. It is free and OpenOffice. Its tools for converting files of all kinds especially Word formats is worth it all. But I also like how it handles images, videos in documents as well. There is a similar one called Apache.
I tried using LibreOffice for a year (I work as a freelance editor). Unfortunately, about 1-2% of the time it simply cannot handle something in Word, and as a result in many instances my clients require contractually that I use Office.
Did you save files in MS Word format? What sort of 1-2% things could it not handle?
It was about eight years ago, so I don't remember. It might well have improved since then, but contracts are contracts.
I was using Libre for a time, especially for spreadsheets, then fell into a period when I did very little of that. When I started to resume, I found too many complications for doing a simple job, having forgotten most of what I used to know about it. This is aggravated by the lack of real documentation, which it shares with practically everything else now. So my question: Is there somewhere something like a user manual for the thing? Maybe even on paper? Even maybe more than one book, for different uses? (When LibreOffice was new, there was a real printed document, but it was pretty bad. Now, is there anything at all?)
I have come to despise MS. My Outlook email account was stolen in identity theft and despite filing out a recovery form numerous times I never heard back (impossible to talk to a human in support). Would love to get rid of Office, but am a power user of Word having been a technical writer and editor for 20 years. I know all the tricks and shortcuts that might be missing in other products.
Am a fledgling author and have been using writer’s software called Scrivener. I used it to publish my first book. Am very happy with it. The product costs only $60 and can be installed on multiple PCs.
Glad you are happy with it. I found it more cumbersome, despite wanting so much to love it. But the synching with Dropbox was what killed it for me. It ended up freezing the documents I had created on it. I know many love it though. Maybe if they allowed other platforms to synch?
I don’t save or backup to a cloud system. My backups go to a flash drive.
Smart.
Waterdragon,
Yes, and you can turn the AI feature off on Duck Duck Go in their settings.
But Scrivener requires using Dropbox as a synch.
I shared this article on FB and within 10 minutes FB removed it.
Yall still use fb? Shit man... fbs like a bad tattoo, but on the brain. Fbers just cant seem to get rid of it..
So much for Zuck’s newfound belief in free speech 🙄🙄
I asked Google “Is Ted Gioia obsessive?” Just ‘cos one can. Here’s the AI answer:
Based on descriptions of his work, particularly his book "Music: A Subversive History," Ted Gioia is often characterized as "obsessive" due to the incredibly detailed and extensive research he undertakes when exploring the history of music across various cultures and time periods, with reviewers frequently highlighting the ambitious and deeply researched nature of his writing.
Key points about Gioia's "obsessive" approach:
Depth of Research:
His writings delve into a vast array of musical topics, often tracing the evolution of music from ancient civilizations to the present day, covering obscure details and connections that many other writers might overlook.
Broad Scope:
Gioia's work isn't limited to a specific genre or region, instead aiming to provide a comprehensive global perspective on music history.
Critical Acclaim with Caveats:
While praised for his thoroughness, some critics have noted that the sheer scale of his research can sometimes lead to a sprawling narrative that may not always be easily digestible.
You might take that as a compliment - or you might forgo your daily rock consumption and throw the rock in Google’s general direction. You’d almost certainly hit something.
Personally, I have a very high opinion of your work, much higher than I have Google’s poorly written AI gobbledegook.
Funnily enough, there is One Weird Trick to get Google’s search AI to shut up: insert profanity into your search. Despite having a supercharged talking dictionary in its servers, Google’s search models are so averse to four-letter words that they simply don’t activate.
“turn off google AI” gets you AI slop; “turn off the f&$@ing AI” gets you straight to the links.
Swear more! It’s good for the Web.
"And that’s Google at its best now—a crappy encyclopedia. And often it’s far worse.
Even an inferior encyclopedia wouldn’t replace historical images with AI slop. But Google does this constantly."
When everything on the internet is upside own, it brings into relief why the importance of interacting with real people, reading physical books, and honing memory, writing, and critical thinking skills will prevail.
Google is serves up "blancmange" information that will lead to a general decline of knowledge. My husband Peco and I wrote about this in "The Flavors of Faux History" https://schooloftheunconformed.substack.com/p/the-flavors-of-faux-history-preparing, and Ted makes it abundantly clear that Google serves to degrade our search for knowledge.
Thanks for another excellent piece!
Excellent analysis. 🧐. I would however elevate reason 4. Before AI 🤖 , Google decided to whore out search to advertising and paid placement to the point that Google search is like stone soup.
I have been using Perplexity for search and much better than Google. Of course now we’re getting the AI version of SEO so the battle continues
I have found Perplexity excellent for many tasks, including as a Google replacement where I need to find a very specific piece of information. For example, finding the fax number for a specific medical suite in a large hospital where the hospital’s own website is impossible to navigate and Google serves up pages of ads and links to other hospitals, services and products. Yes, I still use a fax🤭
Fax?????🤯. I remember when cc meant carbon copy with actual carbon paper. But why??
I like the Brave browser. Much better than DuckDuckGo (which uses MS Bing). After just now reading their website, I am convinced to switch to Brave. Also I use LibreOffice for a MSOffice alternative, which is great, especially at converting files. And it is free/OpenOffice.
Now to tackle email. You can, of course, just say No to Gmail but apparently it is not easy to actually remove from your computer entirely. Well aware of Proton but do you know anyone using it? Seems cumbersome and the end-to-end encryption is apparently not what it seems either. And yes there is easy iCloud but . . . do we really trust Apple anymore?
This is getting soooo complicated. I would rather just can the whole scam — go no tech. Or maybe just never on Sundays. . .
Brave Search is so much better than Google Search. I'm honestly surprised it isn't more popular.
They are one of the few search engines that don't rely on Google's site indexing.
Adrienneep,
You can use any browser with the DuckDuckGo search engine. My browser is Mozilla Firefox and my search engine is DuckDuckGo (I've had this set-up for about 15 years). There's no need whatsoever to use Bing, Google, Yahoo, or have any of them on your computer/phone.
And yes, I use Proton email, so now you sort of know someone who uses it. ;-) It's not cumbersome once you learn about it. Like anything new, there's a learning curve.
I have been using DDG for years, but now they have AI Assist. Hate that. I get the value of paying for email vs free. But doesn’t Proton NOT encrypt when emailing to non-Proton user? And require an acknowledgement from a recipient before reading email?
Adrienneep,
Yes, DuckDuckGo does have the option for AI Assist, but you can turn that completely off in settings. I have done it and haven't seen hide nor hair from their "assistant" since.
This is how I do it on Windows 10, so it may vary somewhat depending on your device and system:
* On DuckDuckGo's search page, click on the SETTINGS "gear" icon
* A SEARCH SETTINGS pop-up window appears
* Click on ALL SEARCH SETTINGS
* 4 tab options appear at the top (GENERAL, APPEARANCE, PRIVACY, AI FEATURES)
* Click on the AI FEATURES tab
* You can now turn off their AI Assist and their Chat features
With respect to Proton:
* Proton User email to Proton User email is automatically encrypted.
* Proton User email to NON-Proton User email is NOT automatically encrypted, but can be encrypted with the use of a password. The recipient can open the email by either, 1) you informing them of what the password is (via text, phone call, etc) or, 2) figuring out the password via a "hint" that you provide (the recipient sees the "hint" when they try to open the email).
* The NON-Proton User can reply securely to your email as long as they hit the "Reply Securely" button within the secure email you sent them. If they just simply copy your Proton email address into, let's say, a newly composed email from their Gmail account, and then contact you that way, then no, it is not secure.
* If they reply to you via the "Reply Securely" button, then you can reply back to them and just set the password again. It can be the exact same password, and you can go back and forth that way communicating securely.
Thank you for the detailed help. A very welcome use of Substack, yes?
But how do you find non-Proton people reacting to using Proton passwords? And isn’t texting nonsecure? Happy to hear that a phone call can be so useful. And does Proton act this way to non-Proton users with other secure email system?
Hi Andrienneep,
No worries, happy to help!
Well, here's how I use Proton email. If I am communicating information that I don't want people's eyes on (other than the recipient), then I use Proton. If I'm just sending somebody some non-important info, then I may use another email service.
In terms of family and friends: They have no issue with the password/hint protocol, in fact sometimes they find it funny because they have to recall something that only the two of us know. And remember, if you are having a lengthier conversation that will require email responses going back and forth, you only have to ask them to remember one password...and then you just keep reusing (setting) that password as you continue to reply to their responses.
In terms of other people: When I have had to send info to, let's say, a business dealing with a financial issue or a medical facility dealing with health information, I just tell them upfront that I will not send that kind of information via an unencrypted email service and that I have a means to send it to them securely and will provide them with a password to access the email. I have never had anyone take issue with it, but that's just been my experience. Most people understand that protecting that kind of data is important, and if they don't, they need to be thinking about it...so I sort of see it as a way to spread the word! And hopefully in time it will make encrypted email services more mainstream (and given what's going on in our country these days, it might happen sooner than later).
In terms of texting: Sure it's not secure and neither is a phone call if someone is eavesdropping. However, remember that you are on two completely different platforms. In other words, unless somebody with some real power REALLY wants to access your emails and has the ability to eavesdrop on your phone calls 24/7 and watch your texts all at the same time, I think you're pretty safe! What I would do, though, if I were texting someone, is I would be discreet and just simply send the password. I would not text, "Hi Jessica, here is the password for the Proton email I'm about to send you detailing my medical history." Most times, though, with businesses, I make a phone call. With family and friends, I usually use hints.
With respect to your last question, I honestly don't know the answer to that.
Oh, one last thing regarding unsecure texts. You might want to check out Signal. I have a feeling more folks will be downloading it in the days/weeks/months to come. However, in order to use Signal, your recipient must have it as well. Signal will not/can not send a text to a non-Signal user.
That’s exactly what I was trying to think through. Thanks!
I do use proton mail, I do pay annually and they have good customer service too.
I have the Brave browser on my MacBook and it works great, along with LibreOffice. Speaking of — I am considering a trade-in on my iPhone 15 so that I can get better desktop computer and stop having phone in hand usage.
What's the best browser for the MacBook user?
See above.
I've been using Vivaldi for years as a Mac user, try it.
Many thanks!
I agree. Suddenly, I have to find a new search engine as Google is nothing but links to social media posts from Reddit and Quora. I also need a different email from GMail, and different social media. I can’t stand fb anymore.
I appreciate all of the suggested alternatives!
Part of problem being that Subject lines in email not encrypted, apparently.
Thanks for clarifying.