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This is my theory, just idle speculation: I don't think Google is desperate. I think Google is a personal playground for Larry and Sergey to invest in whatever
by czr80 13y ago
This is my theory, just idle speculation:
I don't think Google is desperate. I think Google is a personal playground for Larry and Sergey to invest in whatever takes their fancy - they have the money, and they don't answer to shareholders, given Google's unusual voting structure.
Sadly, they seem to favor flashy but questionable technology demonstrations (self-driving cars, glass, ara). Which is not to deny that some of the spending has been great (street view, google translate, etc.) They're no Bell labs, though, or IBM in its heyday, which is a real shame.
- eurleif 12y agoWhy do you think self-driving cars are questionable? Maybe I've missed something, but it seems very plausible to me that they will take off; and even if Google didn't profit directly from the cars, their core business would profit from people having more free time to stare at a screen.
- dm2 12y agoMany people are on the complete opposite side of the spectrum. I personally believe that autonomous vehicles are undoubtedly the future. They'll save an enormous amount of lives, allow new businesses to be created, eliminate the need for a drivers license (bye DMV), reduce insurance costs, and allow people to work, socialize, and actually have meals in vehicles (can turn the seats around and put a table in the middle). There are probably dozens of advantages that I missed in this post, but I don't see any reason to not aggressively pursue this technology.