Beware The Google
June 24th, 2009
Op-Ed, The Healthcare Channel
So, you think we live in an age where any answer to a query is simply a Google search away. Unfortunately, nothing exemplifies the phrase, “A little knowledge is dangerous” better than Google.
If you Google “Premetrexed”, you will learn all about the brand name drug Alimta as a chemotherapy for various cancers. The problem is that premetrexed is a nonsense word. Pemetrexed is the actual drug name.
Google “Bevicizumab” and you will find many respectable websites discussing the branded drug Avastin. But again, bevicizumab is not a drug. Bevaciszumab is the correct name.
Google the name “Steven Greer, MD” and you will learn all about a whacko UFO chaser, complete with images of the man, for five pages of search results. The problem is that there are more than one Steven Greer, MD’s in the world. Yet folks are so trusting of “The Google” as to believe the first thing that pops up.
The problem extends beyond Google. Wikipedia is fraught with intentional and unintentional inaccuracies. Politically motivated web sites post smears hourly. Twitter imposters are ubiquitous. Is the Supreme Leader of Iran really using Twitter? Maybe. The Internet has enabled a very effective form of misleading propaganda that is more powerful at influencing billions of minds than the world has ever seen.
Of course, Google and the Internet have indeed made it possible for one to find amazing amounts of accurate information within seconds, but properly using it requires old-fashioned book-learned education, insight and wisdom. If improperly or maliciously used, the Internet can mislead like nothing before.
Beware The Google. Search at your own risk.
April 24, 2009 9:29 am No Comments
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