It's Time For Google to Go to Space

Culture

Now that Google is no longer supporting Reader and several other projects, the company has time and money to invest in some bleeding edge technology. Here are a few suggestions from a cyberpunk writer and keen futurist. I am sure your fertile minds can come up with a few ideas.

Forget getting your new Xbox 360 to recognize your movements for the latest dance game, so you don't look like a flailing dork at your next party, or some glasses that let you surf the internet without looking down as you walk — we are talking bleeding edge stuff that drives the imagination.

How about Google put a good amount of its cash into helping the private space industry move ahead? You could have a Google-branded moon base, where Google junkies could live in a Google-ful lifestyle. Presumably, the Apple version of this moon base — shaped like a giant Apple symbol of course — will be on the other side of the moon. Last year, Wired declared the following and you can be sure things have moved on quite a bit from here:

Private asteroid mining! Commercial trips to the moon! Mars settlements! We barely had time to catch our breath from the last secret organization announcement when suddenly some other team was cropping up and declaring a bold new adventure in space.

"Think of the potential profits of figuring out a way to mine asteroids before anyone else. Then again, Apple will not want to be outdone and we could have an Apple vs. Google space race. Microsoft will eventually join the race, but it probably would be lumbered by their OS (blue screen of death in space would really mean death)."

This thought might be a bit scary to those who think Google already has too much influence on all of us. Isn't about time we were able to "jack-in" via a neural link and not have to bother with keyboards. Tablets are fine but a bit clunky and typing sucks on them. Instead of getting rats to command each other round their cages, lets get the techies wired in.

And, of course, there is seasteading, which is technology that is almost there. Google could get into this now and create GoogleCity. Hell, seasteading has gotten the attention of The Economist, so it can’t be far off. There are various choices for your budding seasteading founder ranging from old cruise ships to permanent structures that look straight out of James Bond:

“And although true seasteads may still be a distant dream, the seasteading movement is producing some novel ideas for ocean-based businesses that could act as stepping stones towards their ultimate goal.”

Feel free to add a few more suggestions for Google’s development team. They have the money and the will, now it is time for them to think big. I am sure they can find customers who are more than willing to try out these bleeding edge technologies.