There are over seven billion people in the world, and yet only two billion of those have access to the internet. Google wants to change that.
If you ask people what Google is, most would probably say a search engine, or a way of searching for things on the internet.
Melissa Corona, Freshman, agrees with that by simply saying, “Google is a way to search for things.”
That was their mission, when in 1997 a guy named Lary Page decided of the name, “Google”, as a play on words for “googol”, a number with a bunch of zeros after it. Formerly, it was known as “BackRub”, which uses bots and scripts to get everything notable and everything not notable on the web and organize it. In 1998, a check was written for a company that did not even exist yet, and in September they actually file to be a company. This trend continued for a while, including the conception of Google Ad words, which is why you see a bunch of ads on YouTube (really annoying for some).
However, in November 2007 something interesting happens.
The search engine dedicated to crawling the web for anything and everything like books, movies and maps decided to buy a little operating system known as “Android”. T-Mobile was the first company to offer an Android powered smartphone, the G-1.
Why should we not overlook this? Think about it. The search engine that is, most likely, already your homepage wants to be on your phone. They want into your life.
Ever notice that sometimes when you go on a site like Amazon, search for something, then leave, you start to see ads specifically for that product? That is Google. In March 2008, Google acquired a company called DoubleClick, who serves ads relevant to you.
Again, do not overlook this. There is only one way that they know what you are looking for.
The technology is called Cookies, and it is easy to imagine; every time you visit a site like Amazon, they put a ‘chocolate chip’ in your browser, and Google goes and observes the chocolate chip for what it holds. It could be milk chocolate, dark, white, whatever. It is unique to you. They use it to pair you with an Ad. Microsoft realized this, and started a campaign about being ‘Scroogled’.
Again, the company wants to know you. We are all too busy looking at the NSA to realize that Google is where they might be getting their information from.
In April 2012, Google decided to tell what else they have been working on: Project ‘Glass’.
For those who do not know, Google glass is really just smart-enabled glasses. It has a screen on the front so you can use the device, while it is out of the way when you do not want it.
In the concept video, you can see that they clearly seem to be having a good time with Glass. Why? How would this enhance my life? In the same way that your phone did, they know you will use it all the time. Actually, the point here is that you do not have to use your phone all the time. You will phone will be the hub for the glasses instead of the hub for you. This is just one more step towards a world of wearable tech. It could also take video. You can video chat. Again, cheat on tests. Plus, you do not need headphones, yet you still hear the sound. In a brilliant move, while Apple just released the ‘Ear Pods’, Google has been working on a way to play sound through a bone near your ear.
But they are not done yet.
Google recently tried to patent a tattoo. This tattoo could do phone calls, and it could also function as a lie detector. While this may be the only things that the new patent reveals, the possibilities are endless. Much like Google Glass or the smartphone, only science fiction could come up with an idea like this.
First reaction: well that is creepy…
Why not though? This is the search engine where you go to search for your deepest desires, whether it is a cat video or a tutorial on how to save someone’s life. Perhaps this tattoo could save lives by you asking it to play for you how to do CPR, like the video below:
The tattoo can use the signals in your skin to know if you are lying or not, and other signals that can communicate with gaming devices, smartphones, and other devices.
But even freakier, it might know what you are thinking.
We are getting closer and closer to being able to ask Google: “what is that song I cannot get out of my head?” The day is coming fast where Google could tell us if he or she is right for us. Sooner rather than later, we can cheat on a test and no one would know it, because only we can hear the sound coming from our glasses (this technology exists today, and the sound travels through a bone by your ear).
We need to start a conversation, and fast, about how invasive we can let technology become. We have to predict when it will be enough to just have a phone.
Google will become the place for your secrets, and the world will know all of them.
Invasive? Mr. Lee, engineering teacher on campus, thinks so by telling: “Google knows a lot about us, but we do not have a choice. Compared to a search engine like Bing, Google is the only option if you want to find anything,” Lee states, and tells how Google is unstoppable “unless society anchors down and says enough is enough.”
Warning: this is a long shot. Any technology listed below here is in the complete future.
However, the technology is starting to be developed now. Research and development is starting to take place right now at the headquarters of Amazon.com, the world’s platform for buying products, in order to find a better way to get products from the warehouse to you faster.
Their solution: drones.
In a recent interview with Jeff Bozos, the C.E.O. of Amazon, by 60 Minutes, Bozos claims that the drones can carry products of up to five pounds in distance of a couple of miles.
Now make a connection.
A chip that knows your thoughts.
A drone that can carry you products.
Given the technology that may be available in the future, all you have to do is think about the want for something and within minutes it is right in front of you. It is brilliant, invasive, shocking, yet cool. It is also an idea that has only been presented in Science fiction, but like most ideas presented in Fiction, companies are bringing this to life.
Sure, it may know what you want, which is very invasive.
This kind of scary could save lives. Think about this scenario: you are running on a trail, dehydrated. You faint, and then collapse. Because you have your smart phone and the tattoo, it knows all your blood chemistry. It automatically sends an alert to 911, but it also dispatches a drone to fly to the rescue, with plans to give you medication and/or assess the situation.
All of the sudden, scary turns cool, and that is what Google wants. We need to start a conversation weighing the pros and cons.
Towards the cooler side, imagine a situation where you’re sitting at home one day and want a bar of chocolate. You think in your mind: “Google:” and you hear a sound. You then say, “Tell Amazon to send me a bar of chocolate.” You are then left, doing what you were, until about three minutes passes. You have your bar of chocolate, generously dropped out of the sky and onto your front porch.
See, if you have been paying attention lately, you would know that science and technology is starting to move more and more central to us. The brain and your DNA more specifically, and sense that game came out where by focusing on something, you can make the ball go up, I personally have been in wonder and thought about how technology can change the way that we interact with technology.
The game is changing and changing fast.
We need to become more aware of what is happening. We need limits and laws.
But most of all, we need to think of the impact we have on the next generation.