The Prosperity of Freedom

 

Listening to the radio the other day I heard a reference to something called goog411. Now I had never heard of this, but evidentially the days of being charged for directory service are over. In the past I have paid up to $1.50 to receive help from directory assistance so this came as quite a bit of a surprise to me.

 

Goog411 is a service provided by the Google Corporation. By calling 1-800-goog-411 (1-800-466-4411) a user can request directory assistance. You can look up any business name in any

U.S.city and have the details text directly to your cell phone or have them connect you at no charge.

In my research I found that Google was not the only one offering such a service. There is also the Jingle Corporation that offers a similar service and provides directory assistance for residential as well as business numbers. Their number is 1-800-free-411 (1-800-373-3411). While Jingle does provide directory assistance for residential as well as business numbers they do require you to listen to two short advertisements. One of these advertisements before you place your request and one of them while your request is running. In addition there is another small competitor operated by Verizon called 100-the-info (1-800-843-4636).

     Because Google offers its directory service engine free of charge I have heard some rumblings on the net about how viable this business model is. There has been lots of concern that this model is unsustainable and that Google cannot afford to continue this practice unabated. To this concern Google assures its customers that it uses the data that it collects from the users of this system to build smarter and better voice recognition systems.

     By collecting data from different users with all different accents and dialects intact the computer can train the computer which is a thousand fold more efficient then having humans train computers. In the end I expect some dynamic and innovative voice recognition software available for sale out of the deal. How cool would it be to be able to talk to your computer like another person and have your instructions understood without fail? Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have the computer read web pages to you in a very human sounding voice? You could even pick your accent! Want the Wall Street Journal read to you by a Canadian? Want the New York Times read to you by a Southerner? Want your best friends blog delivered in a Caribbean accent? Done and done!

     The most amazing aspect of all this to me is that it shows the marvel of the market. When was the last time a government agency offered you something free? We all pay 10 times what something is worth ahead of time before it is even available and if you can even get it from the state. Is the state telling us not to bother paying for public schools because the data that they are collecting on children can be exploited for a better education tomorrow? Is the state telling us to not bother paying for prisons because the prisoners pay for everything and provide a tidy sum to be returned to the budget? Can you stop paying their mandated fees for roads because the cost will now be offset by billboards or by company sponsorship of a snowplow?

    In reality the reason that we don’t receive such innovation from the state is a moral reason. The state has no competition and receives its funding at force. Do you think Google would be offering such innovations if it had no competition and received its budget whether it performed or not? In fact, it is more vicious then this. The state receives greater funding and reward for failure and has every incentive arrayed against it for success. It is no wonder that we can put the most moral persons in charge of the political state and in short order they become immoral and vicious. They must to survive.

 

For now I will take Google and hope that the state leaves me alone. Alas they will not because April 15^th is just around the corner.