4 ms·
Reading the headline the first words out my mouth were "holy shit" Not only does this bring some serious engineering talent to Google's robotics initiative, th
by brd 13y ago
Reading the headline the first words out my mouth were "holy shit"
Not only does this bring some serious engineering talent to Google's robotics initiative, this acquisition should create some interesting new interactions between Google and the government moving forward.
- 1qaz2wsx3edc 13y agoMy first thoughts were along: "Nope" and "This is how the robopocalypse starts". Google & BD are both researching machine learning, it only makes sense for Google to buy them.
- thibauts 13y agoBoth will sure gain from each other talents and data. Robotics for the self-driving car, and a brain for the humanoïds. Aweso... well not so much.
- jol 13y agoI'm so glad to see that, that I am not the only person with such dual reaction - This is sooo awsomme tech! & ok, were it is going might not be so cool at the end...
- shiloa 13y agoAgreed - My first reaction was "Google == Cyberdyne Systems". I hope a lot of good comes out of this, but I cannot help but think of worst case scenarios. Then again, maybe I consume too much sci-fi movies and books.
- jfoster 13y agoIt doesn't help that the robots produced by BD look a bit like the ones from "robots versus humans" movies. This acquisition feels a bit scary, but also very exciting. In reality, self-awareness is probably far enough away that we don't have much to worry about for now.
- sitkack 13y agoRobots won't be that scary when they are self aware. It is at the stage just _before_ self awareness where they are easily controlled and very powerful.
- salient 13y agoYou only need to read the news about what the government is doing with drones abroad, or with military equipment at home to think at worse case scenarios.
- philangist 13y agoI know it's been said, and at this point it's kind of cliche, but I feel like I'm living in a sci-fi movie more SNF more with each passing day. This is all very exciting stuff.
- ragle 13y agoSeriously. These were precisely the first words out of my mouth as well. Worth pointing out that Ray Kurzweil[1] is the director of engineering at google, Peter Norvig[2] is the director of research, and they recently snatched up Geoffrey Hinton[3] and several of his grad students. Not sure if excited or terrified. The future of google is going to be very interesting... [1] - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Kurzweil http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Kurzweil [2] - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Norvig http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Norvig [3] - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoffrey_Hinton http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoffrey_Hinton
- tonfa 13y ago"The director of" is misleading, it is a director (there are at least two higher positions: VP and SVP).
- ragle 13y agoThanks for spotting this and pointing it out. I'll take your word for it about Kurzweil. The wiki also says "a director" - good catch. Here's what google says about Norvig though: http://research.google.com/pubs/author205.html http://research.google.com/pubs/author205.html FWIW, I don't think reporting to higher ups (e.g. VP, SVP) precludes someone from being "the director" if there are no other people in the department with this title / position.
- tonfa 13y agoThere is at least Alfred Spector who is a VP and in charge of research: http://www.theguardian.com/activate/alfred-spector http://www.theguardian.com/activate/alfred-spector But yeah, Norvig is probably a little bit more than "a" director :)
- eggspurt 13y agoBen Horowitz: "Larry Page, in contrast, seems to have determined that Google is moving into war and he clearly intends to be a wartime CEO." Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/peacetime-ceowartime-ceo-2011-4 http://www.businessinsider.com/peacetime-ceowartime-ceo-2011...