Google and the World Brain

This Sundance documentary, nominated for the 2013 Grand Jury Prize (World Documentary category), challenges Google's quietly conceived master plan to scan and store every book in the world. While Google claim they are building a library for mankind, documentarian Ben Lewis examines claims of mass copyright infringement and other cultural concerns around the company's bullish plans.

"The goal of accumulating all human knowledge in one repository has been a dream since ancient times. Only recently, however, has that dream become a reality. Since 2002 Google has been executing a project to scan and digitise every printed word on the planet. Working with the world’s most prestigious libraries, the webmasters are reinventing the limits of copyright in the name of free access to anyone, anywhere...

"Some argue that Google’s actions represent aggressive theft on an enormous scale, others see them as an attempt to monopolise our shared cultural heritage, and still others view the project as an attempt to flatten our minds by consolidating complex ideas into searchable "extra-long tweets"... Incisive and riveting as it uncovers a high-stakes multinational heist, Lewis’s film voices an important alternative to the technological utopianism of our time." (Sundance Film Festival)

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