Well, sometimes the internet is the great leveller. No matter how big you get, how smart, how rich and powerful, the web can still make you look pretty dumb pretty quick. Even if you're Google.

The story goes like this: The other day, I'm zipping along the internet looking for some good, old mythology to read. That's what we philosophy majors do - relax the brain with some ancient literature. Now what better than some Greek myths, right? I mean Greece is the birthplace of modernity, of Western civilization, and how better to soothe the internet-weary mind than a story of Zeus or Apollo or Atlas?

What's this got to do with Google, you ask? Well, the story goes on: After searching the web for something I hadn't read before - having re-read my Edith Hamilton for the thousandth time - I came across a site with some cool geneaology-style charts of the ancient Titans, Olympians and various leftover dieties. It looked something like this:

Now, for those of you who aren't ancient mythology buffs, suffice it to say that the chart is correct. What's hilarious are the Ads by Google that appear next to it. Take a second look.

As a Google AdWord advertiser myself, I know how hard it is to target good traffic. It's expensive trying to run enough ads and get impressions and clicks through to your website. So that's why Google invented this technique of "contextually inserting" the current "search" topic or theme of a page directly into the Ad. So if you search for "real estate Boston" you get ads that say "The Best Real Estate in Boston" because the advertiser created an ad that simply inserts your search criteria into the ad. No real accounting for whether the advertiser is relevant or not - local, specific, targeted. It's just a broad-swath strategy to pull in clicks by placing your search words next to "attractive" words like "Bargain" or "Best" or "Smart Deals."

Which is exactly how you end up with dumb ads like this? I mean, sure, it's hard on an ancient diety to get some airtime today. Certainly Greek Goddesses aren't in such demand in the post-modern world. Maybe a down-on-your-luck leftover Olympian needs a little help from Google to pull in the attendance at the Oracle these days. But it's also a sign of something else - of some thinking that has gone awry. Much like nobody believes the ancient myths any more, maybe this Google Ad silliness is also pushing away believers. Maybe AdWords will turn out to be just as dumb as newspaper classifieds or postcard mailings. When just about anything appears alongside your search - even Bargain Basement Goddesses - could it be that everyday web surfers will begin to "lose faith" in the power of Google to be smart?