Search engine: the new memory and brain of the village?

"In 1995, when AltaVista made its debut, the company said it was processing 2.5 million search requests a day. Today, Google, processes 5.1 billion searches each day."

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/07/01/altavista-whats-that/?nl=technology&emc=edit_ct_20130705