Posted on 12/29/2013 5:08:15 PM PST by SamAdams76
You may not have noticed it, but over the past year Google has bought eight robotics companies. Its most recent acquisition is an outfit called Boston Dynamics, which makes the nearest thing to a mechanical mule that you are ever likely to see. It's called Big Dog and it walks, runs, climbs and carries heavy loads. It's the size of a large dog or small mule – about 3ft long, 2ft 6in tall, weighs 240lbs, has four legs that are articulated like an animal's, runs at 4mph, climbs slopes up to 35 degrees, walks across rubble, climbs muddy hiking trails, walks in snow and water, carries a 340lb load, can toss breeze blocks and can recover its balance when walking on ice after absorbing a hefty sideways kick.
You don't believe me? Well, just head over to YouTube and search for "Boston Dynamics". There, you will find not only a fascinating video of Big Dog in action, but also confirmation that its maker has a menagerie of mechanical beasts, some of them humanoid in form, others resembling predatory animals. And you will not be surprised to learn that most have been developed on military contracts, including some issued by Darpa, the Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency, the outfit that originally funded the development of the internet.
Should we be concerned about this? Yes, but not in the way you might first think.
(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...
FReepers who brand liberals as stupid should be wary....
I don’t see it. they made their money in software, they should stay there. Yes, “nerds” like new mechanical gadgets, but if they have commercial success with any such gadget, the Chinese, Koreans, Japanese or even the Europeans will have their own version out quickly. Then again, Google has a lot of $$$ to throw around.
Google’s an overgrown ad agency.
Yje only danger is that they will use their huge funds they recieved for tracking internet users for marketers to suppress development in fields like robotics.
Just the opposite of what this author says.
But that’s what big companies tend to do.
They’re trying to build Cyberdyne Systems... (Uhm...Terminator?)
ok. how do we stop these things from killing us?
Skynet?
“ok. how do we stop these things from killing us?”
Well first you have to sign up for google adwords.
Type "Google" into Google.
No, I don't. What would he have said?
Made a couple of stupid videos a while back and uploaded them to Youtube. I allowed the videos to be monetized (Ads showing). Checked the Google Adsense right before Christmas...Getting a direct deposit for $299 in a few weeks.
They'd better harden them.
The only one I've seen so far that stands a chance against a guerrilla campaign is the lil guy with an M60 mounted on it.
Still has it's vulnerabilities.
It'll be a loooooooooooooooooong time before robots will be a worthy adversary.
I’m beginning to think that we’ll need to call “Mr. Incredible”.
You need to read up on what Google has been doing these past 10-15 years. They are putting themselves in position to collect and organize all the world's information (their company mission) and as we all know, knowledge is power. They've mapped and photographed virtually every crevice of the Earth, captured huge market share in computer devices (Chromebooks, tablets), smartphones (Android OS) and even corporate data (Google Apps).
Advertising was the cash cow that fueled everything else but they now have several business units that stand on their own financially. The day is rapidly approaching where they will not need the ad revenue anymore.
People were afraid of the power that Microsoft obtained in the 1990s. Google will soon be ten times as big as Microsoft ever was. It will get interesting.
Keep an eye on Apple as well. Another company with almost unlimited reserves of cash...
Leftists are not stupid, they are evil.
Advertising was the cash cow that fueled everything else but they now have several business units that stand on their own financially. The day is rapidly approaching where they will not need the ad revenue anymore.
People were afraid of the power that Microsoft obtained in the 1990s. Google will soon be ten times as big as Microsoft ever was. It will get interesting.
Keep an eye on Apple as well. Another company with almost unlimited reserves of cash...
___________________
Some financial experts say that google and fb have been taking government monies for information and access, that in a sense both are arms of the governments.
I have a crevice they haven't mapped - and never will. ;-)
That's what you think!
The point is that we must know our enemies in great detail.
The better we know them, the better we can defeat them.!
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