Google's VERY recent aquisitions...

[Darren Dirt]

what is Google striving to accomplish here...

-On 13 December 2013, the company was acquired by Google http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Dynamics
"an engineering and robotics* design company that is best known for the development of BigDog, a quadruped robot designed for the U.S. military..."

- On January 13, 2014, Google announced plans to acquire http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nest_Labs for US$3.2 billion and leaves Nest Labs to use its own brand.
"a home automation company headquartered in Palo Alto, California, that designs and manufactures sensor-driven, Wi-Fi-enabled, self-learning, programmable thermostats and smoke detectors.."

and now, today-ish, and possibly most signficant...

- On January 26, 2014, multiple news outlets stated that Google had purchased http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DeepMind_Technologies for an undisclosed amount.
"an artificial intelligence company founded in 2011..." ; "combines techniques from machine learning and systems neuroscience to build powerful general-purpose learning algorithms".


So... A+B+C=?

^ "with Boston Dynamics, Nest, and Deepmind, Google is building a thermostat robot dog that can learn on its own."
http://techcrunch.com/2014/01/27/google-is-making-a-land-grab-for-the-internet-of-things/

lol. but possibly a good point. Hopefully still not being evil...




*by the way, that robotics company? Just one of SEVEN.
"Over the last half-year, Google has quietly acquired seven technology companies in an effort to create a new generation of robots. And the engineer heading the effort is Andy Rubin, the man who built Google?s Android software into the world?s dominant force in smartphones..."

[Mr. Analog]

Just wait until they go thru their "CyberDyne Systems" rebranding

[Tom]

They already have a "quantum" computer. You could probably emulate a small brain with it...


A learning computer. DUN DUN DUN.

[Darren Dirt]

what is Google striving to accomplish here...

-On 13 December 2013, the company was acquired by Google http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Dynamics
"an engineering and robotics* design company that is best known for the development of BigDog, a quadruped robot designed for the U.S. military..."

"Why intelligent machines will inevitably seek to destroy humanity"
http://www.naturalnews.com/044074_rise_of_the_machines_Google_robots_Ray_Kurzweil.html

Earlier this week, AI expert Ray Kurzweil predicted that robots would "outsmart humans" by 2029.

He's obviously a very intelligent individual, and he's been right about a great many things in the history of technological achievement. When Kurzweil publicly predicts robots will out-think humans by 2029, we'd better take note.

Kurzweil is a top executive at Google, the very same company which has been on a robotics buying spree, purchasing top military-level robotics companies for billions of dollars.

Google also just spent hundreds of millions of dollars to purchase the DeepMind company, DNNresearch and a long list of others. What's clear is that Google is piecing together the technology needed to deploy a literal army of highly intelligent, armed, "self aware" and self-mobile machines. Their uses are, of course, incredibly diverse. They could be servant robots for homeowners or they could be Terminator-style battlefield soldiers. There's no limit to their application, and whatever company owns this technology will, without question, dominate our world.

If Kurzweil is right, the beginning of this is barely 15 years away, and it begs the question: What would a new race of intelligent machines choose to do with humanity?

VIDEO: the Boston Dynamics PETMAN robot that walks just like a human -- or a T-800!

[Tom]

OH come on. what would they do? Has the writer never seen the matrix? Sheesh.

[Darren Dirt]

They already have a "quantum" computer. You could probably emulate a small brain with it...


A learning computer. DUN DUN DUN.

And if it can get to be a really tiny size, we're all doomed. Because**...



Google Alphabet?

Yup. It's a thing.

http://www.popsci.com/google-restructures-form-alphabet-new-supercompany
https://abc.xyz/


I guess with a new name they tehncially are no longer bound to the promise of not** being "evil"?

"Summary: Google = search, ads, maps, apps, YouTube & Android. Alphabet = Google + everything else."





**Starting with "smart" contact lenses. Like Google Glass without any way of knowing? [sure, they SAY it's for sensing glucose levels...] #strokingVillainousMoustache
http://www.popsci.com/alphabet-announced-their-first-new-company-life-sciences

[Mr. Analog]

The split makes sense because:

1. The business side of Google is what investors give a @%&# about, they REALLY DON'T CARE about any kind of innovation, they just want to push revenue and revenue streams up and up because MO' MONEY

2. The ALPHABET side of Google will split off and do the real interesting / Labs style stuff

I'm actually looking forward to seeing what happens here because innovation at The Goog has been really hamstrung by the slimes that want to monetize everything, the same people who force Google into redesigning stuff to "stay fresh".

Time will tell of course...

[Tom]

Re your final point, you know who pisses me off?  Carl Icahn. What a douche. Does everything he can to tank a company in the name of immediate and immense profit. Activist Investors ftl.

[Mr. Analog]

We live in a mad world where it's just SOP for guys like that to come in, squeeze a company for short term gains, @%&# up and then leave via golden parachute and do it all over again somewhere else

[Tom]

Carl doesn't even join the company. He just buys up a lot of stock, and tried to bend the company to his will. Pure pariah.

[Darren Dirt]

We live in a mad world where it's just SOP for guys like that to come in, squeeze a company for short term gains, @%&# up and then leave via golden parachute and do it all over again somewhere else

It's almost as if guys like him and others skim-watched "Other People's Money" one time and completely missed the whole point! Or they saw clips from Wall Street or Pretty Woman or something and thought "easy money, do almost nothing, definitely build nothing, just sell stuff off for more than I can convince someone to let me buy it for".

But at least in OPM the story made sure to focus a lot of its attention to the Real People impacted both employees of the company and investors in it. Very under-rated film, if you haven't seen it I would recommend even finding a stream somewhere -- Danny DeVito will definitely surprise you