The 10 Commandments of Google

Douglas Edwards gives his fly-on-the-wall perspective of Google as it was just rising as one of the biggest search engines and internet companies. It is a story of both the development of Google and an autobiographical account of Edwards insecurities in his role in the company. Google as a company thrived and survived because it constantly adapts to meet the needs of the consumer. In this way, religion is also an entity that has survived for thousands of years because of its ability to give people answers to life’s most difficult questions. Google and religion function in the same way. While there is nothing about Google that is driven by religion, it acts as a platform to access religion. One can look to Google to help one find the answer life’s most important questions like “is there a God” or “why do bad things happen to good people” the same way the one can find those answers in the Bible or religious texts. Each religion abides by certain principles and values that guide their believers own morals. Values such as “thou shalt not murder” or “thou shalt not steal” are principles guide the development of religion. Google has its own set of values like “quality over revenue” (Edwards, 67) and interface that is “supernaturally easy to use” (58).

Edward's biggest claim to fame within Google is the "Ten things we know to be true." It is a set of 10 principles that outlined the company and standards to always hold themselves up to. Their is the unmistakable parallel between the "Ten things we know to be true" and the Ten Commandments in the Old Testament. "Thou shalt have no other gods before me" similarly Google wants to be the primary search engine; there can be the existence of other search engines, but they will be below Google. "You can make money without doing evil"- Google takes this to mean that their ultimate objective is not to take advantage of the Google user, but to provide them with honest search results and an uninhibited experience. Similarly the Ten Commandments outlines several moral demands that otherwise if committed, would be evil.

Of course, there is one significant discrepancy in the 10 Commandments and the "ten things we know to be true." This being that the second commandment is commanding us to not worship idols. This begs the question, is our worship and dependency on Google breaking this commandment?

Regardless of this both the Ten Commandments and the "ten things we know to be true" have principles that guide religion and Google as a platform for the Self. Both allow us to gain knowledge and model our views, morals, and actions based on that information.