Balloons and Cars
At the core of fixing search is Google’s aggressive pursuit of artificial intelligence. Page described setting machine-learning algorithms loose on YouTube’s immense video catalog and watching the computer “learn,” without any prior awareness, not only that this thing called a “cat” was important to people, but how to create a composite image of one. He showed a video of similar self-teaching machines set loose on old Atari video games like RiverRaid and Enduro with no pre-programmed knowledge of the rules and learning over time how to master them.
Then Page moved beyond search, into physical world, describing Google’s ambition to create a “worldwide mesh” of internet connectivity by using huge balloons as wireless hot spots. Rose also asked him about his fascination with transportation systems, which Page said started while waiting in the snow for the bus at his alma mater, the University of Michigan. That fixation has led to Google’s self-driving cars project, which Page hopes will someday transform the world’s cities.
He believes that systematizing transportation will make it possible to use urban real estate for better things than parking lots and roads. “It’s just crazy that that’s what we use our space for,” he said.