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I’m hoping by now that majority of the modern world realizes that Google is not just a search engine. The company thinks of itself as a world’s leading innovator or modern-day technology… and it may be true. There are probably over 100 Google products that you don’t know about? Here is the list: http://www.minterest.com/60-google-products-services-you-probably-dont-know/
If they don’t want to build something, they simply buy the company that makes it best (example: Motorola Mobility)
We have even seen Google’s efforts on the road with a driverless car:
Courtesy of http://www.indimoto.com/blog
If this product goes into major production I wonder what it will do to the taxi industry or transit?
I recently discovered that the modern world should expect more innovative creations from the worlds search giant. The New York Times just announced that Google has revealed a top-secret lab called Google X. This lab’s location is undisclosed and we learned that Sergey Brin, Google’s co-founder, is deeply involved in the lab. Larry Page was also involved before becoming chief executive. A couple of other mad scientists and exec’s are involved in this lab and of course the big question is: What’s next?
Google’s founders have chatted about space elevators, robotics and unmanned vehicles. Sound way out there? Sure! That’s the point of the lab. They produce a list of 100 shoot-for-the-stars ideas and try tackling each one. Rumor has it that one project may be released by the end of the year. Exciting!!
The robotics interest doesn’t surprise me at all. Google is all about learning and trying to produce artificial intelligence. The search engine is the first step to artificial intelligence. Think about it. Google spiders (like robots) crawl the internet and collect content and meta data for improved search results on their search engine. These search results occur through a complex algorithm that only Google knows and updates. The algorithm is what makes the search engine tick and the more information Google collects on the internet, the more accurate the search result! Now, an algorithm can be very generic but we now see that all lot of the key words being used or key word phrases are based upon human habits and behaviours. For example, you search a restaurant the search engine will produce search results based on your location (IP address). If you miss spell a name, the field will automatically suggest the correct spelling or phrase that you are likely looking for. Have you ever searched your name on Google? If your name shows up then you my friend have been acquainted with Mr. Google. Read this for more info on results on Google SERPs
Google Maps is a huge collection of information with real imagery. Google’s all-seeing cars scour different cities all over the world to provide you the ability to see streets and locations from your desktop or mobile. Imagine if your brain knew every back alley, rural round from every country in the world. They are even mapping out the ocean floors using sonar (As far as they can see anyway). Google has not completed this yet but it’s a matter of time before they do and Google will have mapped out the entire planet. Maybe this is where a fleet of unmanned vehicles will come in handy.
Then there is the Android operating system for mobile devices. The name says it all. Definition of Android -
a robot resembling a human being
from Late Greek androeidēs - manlike
Pretty soon, Google will be able to make decisions for you. For example:
Need a vacation?
Type in that in a search bar and Google will check your IP and verify your name. After you verified that, Google will go through every picture you put up in blogs, forums, Google+ and other social media platforms. It will read every comment you made on blogs, articles and social media profiles to see what images of countries and what positive feed back you provided towards a particular country or city and based on all the information collected, Google will suggest a handful of suggestions that would interest you… just like magic. I’m sure you as a user have supplied your contact info at some point (Google Chrome allows you to save this so you don’t have to keep writing it) so once you pick a location, it will recommend the best flight price in real-time through all the advertisers in Google AdWords and also recommend the best hotel for you based on your interests. If Google noticed you comment on posts or expressed interest to surfing it will look for hotels with the best beachfront. Google could also analyze the average products and services in that city (Google AdWords or Google Shopping) so it will recommend you take a allocated budget to your trip. Through Google Maps, it will calculate the duration of your flight and car ride to the hotel in real-time. Remember Google Maps on your mobile can see traffic jams. With one click-through your Google Wallet, you’re entire trip is booked!
You won’t even have to go to a travel agent anymore or waste countless hours surfing the net for the best rates. All it took was writing one phrase in the search field “I need a vacation” and Google can do the rest.
So, Google producing AI is not much of a fantasy anymore. So how does this translate to controlling the world?
Google lives on your browser, it’s not a robot but does it need to be? All devices are connected through the internet. Your mobile connects to your computer and can connect to your TV, car, home security and home appliances. As creatures of habit, its not difficult for applications to learn your daily habits. It can start with the alarm going off on your mobile in the morning. Once you click on “Snooze”, a notification will be sent to your bar code powered coffee maker to start brewing. There is a 20 minute delay before your news channel turns on because you’re in the shower at this time. Your fridge will scan it’s contents and make an order via online for replenishment. A receipt will be sent to your mobile. By 8:17am a notification is sent to your car to start warming up and turn off if you take longer than 2 mins. Idling is not good. Through Google Maps, your car will suggest the quickest route to work to avoid traffic.
Get what I’m saying? Google Chrome has web based applications all it would take is for these applications to talk to each other and share information about your habits through a cloud.
This may sound cool and exciting but it can cause more damage than good.
If web apps, native apps and servers are making suggestions for you and making it easy for humanity to avoid doing simple things, then what is left for humans to develop as intelligent beings? Wouldn’t we be going backwards while machines gain even more knowledge.
Of course I don’t know for a fact that many of these things WILL happen but is it a possibility? Sure it is.
I think I’ve seen something like this in The Terminator, iRobot or the Matrix.
Hmmm… sounds like science fiction… but it’s not.
It’s just science.
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