Next time you use Google to search for shirtless pictures of the Hemsworth brothers, just know that you should be thanking Jennifer Lopez and that infamous green Versace gown she wore to the 2000 Grammy Awards.
Project Syndicate published a piece by one of Google’s Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt, in which he recounts how founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin got the idea for Google’s image search after Jennifer Lopez wore that revealing frock all those years ago. Apparently, after the Grammys, search engine queries for the dress skyrocketed. People wanted to see J.Lo in the barely there look – and the look only, rather than having to skim over web pages with actual text to get to the good stuff. “At the time, it was the most popular search query we had ever seen,” Schmidt writes. “But we had no surefire way of getting users exactly what they wanted: J.Lo wearing that dress. Google Image Search was born.”
So, it seems a combination of human laziness and celebrity exhibitionism are to credit for the fact that we can search for photos of Shiba Inu puppies in a snap. And you say celebrities never did anything for you. We should all be sending Ms. Lopez a fruit basket right now.
[via Project Syndicate]
