Google and Synthetic Biology: The Next Big Thing?
August 5, 2013
I may have learned something which Google watchers have known for years, since 2009 to be exact. On the other hand, I may have stumbled on tantalizing factoids, hires, and inventions which point to a new market initiative for Google.
I wrote a research summary for a fancy Wall Street-type outfit. That research became a footnote in a longer document destined for the institutional investor world. I then wrote a four-page summary for one of the outfits which pay me with love and sometimes money to write articles for “real” publications.
I want to point you to my hypothesis and the brief, public write up about some of my research findings. I want to set the stage or do theater majors call the mise en scène.
Google has attracted some big names in synthetic biology, hired the world’s leading proponent of man-as-a-cyborg, and founded the “moon shot” labs with the essentially unsearchable name of “Google[x] Labs.” The brackets wreck havoc with the now advanced searchless Google. The wonky “x” returns many, many false drops; that is, a query processor match which has little or no relevance to the user’s query. Coincidence? Probably not.
Google’s Singularity University and attached conferences explore quite a few forward-looking topics. Among the most interesting are those which focus on how advanced technology can do medical or human-enhancing things. Prior to one researcher’s presentation at the Singularity knowledge fest, the notion of putting a computer in one’s eye or using autonomous nanotechnology to repair faulty genetic strings was not officially on the Google agenda. Since those 2009-2010 presentations, synthetic biology is, based on my analysis of open source documents, both on the Google agenda and possibly the next big revenue push by the online advertising company.
Imagine the ad revenue from displaying personalized, context sensitive ads to folks wearing Google Glass’ next iterations: smart watches or contact lenses. These are sideshows, in my opinion, for the real purpose of the Glass investments. The main event is nanodevices for medical and pervasive computing functions.
As Google’s founders age, perhaps the nanotechnology will rescue a key engineer from a debilitating illness? Perhaps the nanodevices will allow Google to make each person a walking talking smartphone? No emasculating gizmo required. No silly eyeglasses necessary. The computer is not on the eyeball as a contact lens is. The computer is in the eyeball. Sound like science fiction? I no longer think that generic manipulation and fabrication is reserved for university or US government laboratories. Google has the staff, the money, and the business motivation to push costly, multi-disciplinary inventions from an experimental stage into the product channel.
The question is, “How quickly can Google move?”
Is it now time to think about Google as morphing into its next stage of corporate creature. Remember Google began as Web search. Then Google changed into an online advertising powerhouse. Next Google emerged as a dominant force in mobile phone operating systems. The future may be as one of the most important players in the field of synthetic biology.
You can dig into a few details at http://goo.gl/81cVEr. Disagree with me? Use the Comments section of the blog to explain why I am off base. Have information that extends my argument? Plug it into the comments section as well.
If you are interested in a for-fee (yep, you pay me) briefing on this synthetic biology at Google research, write me at seaky2000 at yahoo dot com. I correctly predicted Google’s mobile phone success in my 2004 Google Legacy monograph? Is it possible I am correct again or am I overlooking balloons and self-driving automobiles?
Stephen E Arnold, August 5, 2013, from Harrod’s Creek, Kentucky
Sponsored by Xenky
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1. “Google Glass” doesn’t work w regular eyeglasses http://t.co/xLy6HD3qTH 2. @NatEyeInstitute: US population with eyeglasses – 64%
http://goo.gl/2kM0Iw
twitter ref: https://twitter.com/traintalk/status/364715297850142720