I was groggily Googling in bed when, for whatever reason, I typed: "How old are the pyramids?"
The answer shocked me. I did a double take, and then I began to question my entire understanding of human history.
I wouldn't call myself the world's greatest history student – although my grades were decent – but I was fairly certain that Egypt's colossal and monumental pyramids have been considered a wonder of the world for thousands of years.
But now, the mega search engine was telling me that everything I understood about history was wrong. According to Google, the pyramids are just 85 years old.
Could it be that everything I believed about Ancient Egypt was a myth? I mean, this is Google after all and the Internet never tells a lie, right?
I've personally touched the Pyramids of Giza and walked inside their cavernous depths. I always took it for granted that these are relics of an ancient and powerful civilization.
But according to Google ... nah.
Fortunately, before I allowed my worldview to shatter completely, I looked a little more closely at my results ... and I realized I had merely stumbled upon a bizarre glitch.
When I read the description underneath the answer to my question, I realized Google's algorithm had grabbed the wrong number. Instead of answering my question correctly, Google had given me the number of years it took to build the pyramids.
My understanding of human history was restored and I felt a sense of relief. Everything still made sense ... well almost.
This made me seriously question Google's credibility. I mean, if I can't trust Google, who can I trust?
Then I remembered a similar incident, when Google told me that former U.S. President Barack Obama is a Muslim. While it would be perfectly fine if that were true, Obama is in fact Christian.
Google has since corrected the Obama error and I assume the pyramids one will be corrected soon.
But seriously, you got to be careful who and what you trust nowadays. When the American president and Google are both spewing alternative facts, maybe we should be a little worried.