I'm fascinated by the power of search in general and Google in particular. Like drive through windows on information - fast, convenient, accurate results to curiosity about anything has made us obese in a digital way. Sloppy scavengers of data, factoids and random nodes.
Anyway, two recent articles on Google are just too interesting not to mention here:
Today's NYT: The Dirty Little Secrets of Search brought focus on how search results can be manipulated. Staying with the fast food alalogy, like adding sugar to high fat food to appease the animal brain's hunger for calories.
Then there was A Bully Finds a Pulpit on the Web (also from David Segal and the NYT.)
Manipulation has always been the simplest form of larceny. The game is simply faster, more profitable and less obvious today.