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Google explains: Finally, a phenomenon to believe in
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Google Unexplained Phenomenon, part 3
The UFO ride is over, and to the relief of Skeptics everywhere, Google has not given itself over to the paranormal. Google’s third UFO doodle explains the unexplained phenomenon, as elaborated by the Google blog. Google now says the mysterious series of UFO doodles was intended to honor the imaginative genius of Herbert George (H. G.) Wells. Wells was born on September 21, 1866.
“Inspiration for innovation in technology and design can come from lots of places;" says the blog, "we wanted to celebrate H.G. Wells as an author who encouraged fantastical thinking about what is possible, on this planet and beyond. And maybe have some fun while we were doing it.”
An excellent choice. Wells wrote War of the Worlds in 1898. Few novels written in the 19th century still resonate 111 years later. The themes from his novel, originally published as a serial, were odd to his contemporaries but familiar to us now: global war, space travel, ecological disaster, and the war between superstition and science. Wells' grasp of science certainly did not hinder his imagation.
The search uber-engine company had some of us worried initially. From a company that has in the past used its creative logos to honor scientific discoveries, scientists, and cultural events, no explanation was given when the first UFO doodle linked to a Google search of “unexplained phenomenon,” most of the links to which were pseudoscientific or superstitious.
As the phenomenon made waves across the net, strange money-seeking sites cropped up, opening the possibility of either scams or misguided attempts to capitalize on Google’s mystery. In chasing that rabbit, this examiner got more than he bargained for in responses from a mysterious website featuring only a cosmic egg.
To make matters apparently worse, from a skeptical point of view, the second Google UFO doodle showed a UFO flying over another modern myth, crop circles.
Still unexplained, though, is why of all his birthdays, the 143rd is significant. Or why the dates 9/5 and 9/15 were chosen as the dates for the first two doodles. I have a feeling that if we tried, we could still find another mystery or two in the Google unexplained phenomenon. It is gratifying to know, however, that Google was honoring one of the greatest imaginations in science fiction and not UFOs or crop circles.
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