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Search: The New Illiteracy

How many digits are in an American Express credit card number?
Which country in Asia gets the least annual rainfall?
What's a good recipe for snow cod that also uses the soy sauce I need to finish off?
Wgnt rnisoal bletang igj prownth en abscrym Jenfrup?

This is just the start of an idea I hope to develop further: I think the ability to use search engines is fast becoming an essential survival skill, like reading. If you can "search," you have answers to a thousand times more questions than before.

At work, I can answer almost any question that somebody emails me. When people ask me in person, I don't know -- I turn to Google. The Internet becomes (how scary is this) almost an extension of my own mind. Okay, that's the sci-fi in me, but it's true to an extent. Having near-immediate access to the best thoughts of the best people all across the world is a tremendous advantage.

Search is important for far more than just commerce.

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This page contains a single entry from the blog posted on June 23, 2005 8:33 PM.

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