All four represent 'The Death of distance!'
There is a side of the argument far more potent that has been overlooked here. The four giants Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon are amazing tools of the digital revolution that have contributed in the 'death of distance' at a pace that was inconceivable just few decades ago. It is not about antitrust watchdogs; they better keep out of it and let this global connectivity blossom and proper. Rest assure Intrinsic ' Hegel's dialectics, which proposes that every economic order grows to a state of maximum efficiency, while simultaneously developing internal contradictions and weaknesses that contribute to its systemic decay' will take care of the oversized ambitions of these corporations.
Sir Tim Berners-Lee, created the World Wide Web and then most philanthropically gave up the control. He is the biggest benefactor of mankind in this century. With the help of 'www' we've been building a global brain now nearly 5 years old. These four benefit from the World Wide Web. This is the manifestation of 'The Global brain' that will bring the ''Birds of a feather flock together.'' Imagine 7.5 billion potentially individually connected human being. When we talk about thing going viral we actually talk about how potent this individual connectivity on global scale has turn out to be. In face of this connectivity the moral fibre of our conscience is more adequately served than the commerce side of humankind.
Google search is driving a nail through established myths and dogmas, never before human orthodoxy has faced such a tough challenge from sources of the treasures of knowledge. Real unity of mankind will be oneness of consciousness and not through victory of one set of dogma over other. Amazon through books, merchandise and a global virtual mart is bringing the barriers of unfair trade. Helping global people to exchange books and ideas that were hidden behind manmade Iron and ideological curtains.
Face book is the underlying instrument of great new era of 'The global interconnectivity' it is the biggest tool through which humankind is shedding its prejudices and bigotry. One cannot only look at the commercial side of these 'four corporations' that would be myopic approach, their contribution to create a culture of universal united by diverse thinking has a unparallel feel about it. On hardware side Ample has created amongst young a craze of products that help them organise their lives as well as connect to each other, no doubt had it not been for Microsoft ( the one missing) efforts to popularise and embed Internet explorer with its system the era of connectivity could have been slightly delayed. The free world wide web is the biggest act of philanthropy and the ability of these firms to spot the potential is mankind's enormous achievement, I will single out people like Steve Job, Larry Page and others who had the vision and ability to realise the vision into reality. The same firms have accumulated so much capital that their owners as global philanthropists are not lavishing their affluence on useless things but creating huge charities, look at the way Microsoft Gates dealt with his wealth and so is expected from Jobs who lived a relatively frugal life and helped propelled Apple into a technology idea pool.
The threat of organised religion, dogma and myths of scriptures that create huge injustices by creating divisions between man are being countered by this exceptional connectivity helped by these borderless firms. There is a 'Global unity dividend' that is far more important than anything else that should look at carefully, in a world where there are 20,000 nuclear warheads deployed and in warehouses, a global emergence of 'thinking' will help us to eliminate these fundamental threats to our very survival, this threat of mutual destruction will be eased and expedited if mankind can achieve its concert.
The better we understand this emergence of global consciousness and the patterns of global connectivity, the enhance will be our understanding of our future. This global brain will in few decades destroy lot of entrenched myths and legends. Yes, we may see increased uncertainty, more distraction but it is the result of interactivity as old theories face their natural process of elimination. Today the grunts we hear are the last sighs of the scriptural legendary stories.
What are the intentions of the global brain powered by these firms? The global brain will be the greatest help to bring mankind together, this 'ultimate death of distance' with the help of our fingertips and our connectivity of minds. Global emergence of a unique consciousness will doom dogma as a futile force, Global brain will eliminate prejudices, narrow mindedness and scriptural authority of all kind. It will bring creativity, science, scepticism and thinking in fore.