8 things we predict Google will be able to do by 2050
In case you missed it, towards the end of last year, Google underwent a corporate restructuring. Google became Alphabet and, in not so many words, a plan to take over the world was silently hatched. Under this new format, Google and all of its reputation and responsibilities were stripped away from the scientific ventures undertaken by the wider company; the sentiment being that they could exist away from the pressures of the Google moniker.
Alphabet now looks set to become the world’s most valuable company, it’s feasible that Apple stocks will take a hit next quarter and Alphabet will steal a march on the $70bn-plus gap that currently separates them. Unlike Apple, Alphabet is more interested in the spheres that exist outside of entertainment. Larry Page and his cohorts are arguably looking to make a far more profound impact on the globe than Tim Cook and co. With fingers in so many pies they pretty much own the whole bakery, here are the projects that Alphabet is working on that could well come to fruition by the time we hit the century’s halfway mark.
Autonomous cars
The self-driving arm is well-documented, accounts vary on how far along the project actually is but testing is well underway and Alphabet will quite possibly be the first to get the tech into the mainstream. Officially, Google has self-driven over 1 million miles with a fleet that includes both modified Lexus SUVs and new prototype vehicles that are designed from the ground up.
Space travel
Google’s currently holding a $30m competition to land a privately funded robot on the moon, if that’s not an indication of a desire to explore the last frontier we don’t know what is. Not to mention, back in 2014, the company leased a NASA facility capable of housing robotics research and space-exploration vehicles.
Cure disease
Google Life Sciences, now known as Verily, is a branch dedicated to researching living organisms and advancing our knowledge of diseases. Google has ferreted away some of the world’s leading brains including Dr. Thomas R. Insel, the director of the National Institute of Mental Health and Marija Pavlovic, who studies the effect of radiation on DNA. By 2050 Google will likely be a leading name in the medical world, whether for profit or not.
iRobot
(Image: Twentieth Century Fox)
Roughly two years ago Google announced a new robotics division, Replicant, that acquired a number of companies in the field. Among the robotics firms was a London based startup, DeepMind that was focused on artificial intelligence. The wider division had an initial goal of consumer robotics of 2020, how likely that is, has yet to be revealed. Give the group another 30 years and expect to see some Will Smith-style sentient beings roaming the streets.
Augmentation
(Image: Google)
As part of Verily, Alphabet has developed a number of technologies that hint at the potential of human augmentation in the near future. Among them, contact lenses that allow people with diabetes to continually check their glucose levels using a non-intrusive method, whilst Google Glass also has some potential in this field of overcoming the human body’s natural limitations. Alongside the fully-fledged Robots, us humans could be more cyborg by 2050.
Stock your fridge
(Image: Cultured Beef)
Cast back to late 2013 and you remember the first lab-grown burger being subject to a less than mouthwatering taste test; the hunk of “meat” costing an eye-watering $330,000. Google’s Sergey Brin was revealed as the benefactor of the expensive project. It’s not a leap to expect a Google branch to be developing and shaping our diets pretty soon, in conjunction with the research at Verily, we could be healthier then we’ve ever been.
Slow down ageing
Not quite full-blown immortality yet but Alphabet’s Calico arm, established in 2013, is tasked with combatting ageing and associated diseases. Come another 35 years, some headway in the field may have been accomplished that’s increasing our life-expectancy by substantial amounts.
Control your home
(Image: TechCrunch)
The home is getting evermore connected, from fridges and thermostats to coffee machines and even home assistants, the Internet of Things, as it’s known, is the biggest trend in tech right now and Google is at the fore with Nest. As this continues to develop the home of the future will soon be pretty much autonomous, real Meet the Robinsons stuff. Cooking, cleaning, security, by 2050 Google innovations will be running and maintaining our abodes like clockwork.
(Featured Image: Twentieth Century Fox)
Become a Gentleman’s Journal Member?
Like the Gentleman’s Journal? Why not join the Clubhouse, a special kind of private club where members receive offers and experiences from hand-picked, premium brands. You will also receive invites to exclusive events, the quarterly print magazine delivered directly to your door and your own membership card.
