I’m going to attempt to explain one of many reasons I have a dead-inside feeling when I use Google. I’ll use the analogy of Driving vs. Biking (vs. Walking).

I had a nice phone call today with a film professor from my time at Syracuse, Richard Breyer. I haven’t seen him in 15 years. An intern I had is a student of his. We reconnected on Facebook.

Professor Breyer had a reputation for always bicycling. In Syracuse, that’s not normal.

Syracuse is both the snow capital of the USA (125 inches/yr) and a town with LOTS of hills (called “drumlins”). It’s a tough city to bike.

It wasn’t until halfway through my 20s that I discovered just how superior a mode of transportation the bicycle really is. Even in Syracuse.

The problem with driving is that there’s very little experience of the journey. There isn’t time to take in the senses of neighborhoods you pass through, whether familiar or new.

All drivers have had the experience, a little scary, of arriving not even remembering the drive.

Walking, on the other hand, is wonderful, the most natural human movement and best exercise currently known, and you really get to experience that journey, but we’re all kind of busy, and it can take FOREVER. Once you get beyond a couple of miles you get to impractical territory.

Then there’s the bicycle, or as Goldilocks would call it, the mode of transportation that is “just right.” You get there fast (in a city like Philadelphia, often faster than driving). You get some gentle exercise. You use no power.

But most importantly, you are IN that journey.

Professor Breyer and I talked about Google and how little true exploration it facilitates. It’s like only driving and only ever using a GPS. Its algorithm is designed for everyone to get to the same, clean, “good enough” answer. It’s just… autopilot.

Just before COVID hit (my timing is awesome) I rediscovered the Library, which is goddamn MAGIC.

Walk up to a librarian and ask them about a thing and they will show you WAY cooler stuff than Google ever could.

And here’s the thing: There are other books around!

Along the library aisles leading to your book are OTHER books. Sometimes just arbitrarily related, alphabetically, by subject, and sometimes, as happened to Professor Breyer, a book will literally drop off a shelf into your hands on a page relevant to a film you’re making.

Google is driving blind, with only a GPS guide that you’re watching the whole time. It’s just not a satisfying thing, and as the algorithm gets “better,” there’s less and less serendipity, less journey, less human experience.

I can’t wait to ride my bike to the library again.