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On 23 August 2004 Google’s share price was $106.15 (NASDAQ:GOOG). Except for a sharp, one-year decline when it dropped from just above 700 to 290, Google’s share price has climbed nearly continuously to its current level of 1163. Just in case you are blissfully uniformed, that single year was 2008 and the responsibility for that decline can clearly be placed on an economy gone haywire. It wasn’t because of a lack of investor confidence in Google. It was a lack of investor confidence in anything.
Having said that begs the question of “What is Google, really? My official survey indicates that the vast majority – more than 80% – would answer: “A search engine.” Frankly, I thought that my sampling would yield a result of 100%, but after asking my wife and two dogs, the cat just stared at me like she was thinking, “You moron. You just asked two dogs to take your survey. What do they know?” All I know is that I crafted the question carefully, and they responded. Not expecting a verbal answer, I said, “If you think Google is just a search engine, SIT!” They sat. I don’t care how snooty the cat is, those votes are legit. But I digress.
Even the introduction of Google Glass didn’t bother me, but, if you have read any of my previous stories about Google, you will already know that it is the secrecy that surrounds all of Google’s operations and facilities that raises the hairs on the back of my neck. What is Google really doing? I can’t answer that question in detail, but I can tell you with certainty that it is much more than engineering internet searches. Take for instance, contact lenses. Contact lenses? Yes, contact lenses. Smart contact lenses. And a couple of other things.
Smart Contact Lenses
Less than a week ago, on 16 January, Google announced that it had already entered into discussions with the FDA in preparation to bring the Google smart contact lenses to market. The short story is that these lenses are designed to continuously monitor and measure wearers’ blood glucose levels and warn of spikes in either direction that could be life-threatening. Prototypes that measure at the rate of once per second have already passed Google’s own clinical trials. A more complete explanation is available on the official Google blog. The lenses are a small product of the work of a much larger enterprise called Google [X].
What is Going on at Google [X]?
The public is already generally aware that Google has recently acquired Nest, a company that manufactures home monitoring systems. See my ADVFN story, What’s Inside Google’s Nest?, published on week ago today. It may be much more important to know what is going on at Google [X].
The mission of Google [X] is “To disrupt complacency in technology by conducting mind-blowing research.” They are not looking for incremental change. They are using “moonshot thinking” to develop massive change and to “go where no man has gone before.” This is not thinking outside the box. It is thinking outside every known boundary.
Google [X] projects include Loon, a system of air balloons used to beam high-speed internet access to sparsely populated and distant regions.
Sebastion Thrun, the man who co-invented Google Street View, is currently heading the project for Google’s driver-less car. Just like anything else automotive, the industry has an almost impenetrable, collective resistance to radical change, even though Google has conducted over 300,000 miles of accident-free testing. What is going to happen here is that, again, in their typical fashion, the auto manufacturers are going to try to develop their own driver-less vehicles. If Google really wants to drive this project (pun intended), you can almost count on it become a car manufacturer.
Then There is Calico
Calico is yet another extension of Google, but not a part of Google [X]. Calico employs the same “moonshot thinking” to research and develop healthcare and life-extension technology. Dr. Hal Barron explained that “Intervening in the underlying biology of disease can prevent certain diseases and, as a result, delay death.”
Larry Page, Google CEO, recently remarked that, “One of the things I thought was amazing is that if you solve cancer, you’d add about three years to people’s average life expectancy. We think of solving cancer as this huge thing that’ll totally change the world. But when you really take a step back and look at it, yeah, there are many, many tragic cases of cancer, and it’s very, very sad, but in the aggregate, it’s not as big an advance as you might think.” The cover of that TIME magazine asked the question, “Can Google Solve Death?”
Investing in Google is investing in a life-changing, disruptive, death-defying entity. Are you ready for that? Really?
