Larry Page stopped by TED2014 this week, to speak on the future of Google. His conversation with host Charlie Rose touched on everything from surveillance to wireless networking and medical records.
On Google's core search business, its goal "to really understand the world's information — we're still very much at the early stages of that. … it's not at all done."
On the difficulties of government surveillance: "We can't have democracy if we're having to protect you and our users from the government over stuff we've never had a conversation about." (Via Flickr / James Duncan Davidson)
And Page had more radical ideas, based on his own experiences. "When I lost my voice I thought, wouldn't it be amazing if everyone's medical conditions were available anonymously to medical doctors?" (Via YouTube / zeitgeistminds)
"One of his ideas is for patients to hand over their data to researchers in order to save lives. [He] said consumers need to accept a new era of open data is inevitable." (Via BBC)
And a writer for TechCrunch points out there are benefits to such sharing. "We could conduct original research, look for hidden side-effects and give users individual health recommendations based on their behavior."
Page is first to admit there's a long way to go before medical sharing, computers that understand humans or worldwide WiFi networks arrive.
But, says a writer for Wired, "watching the CEO tie them all together gave the impression of a company that really does intend to follow through on his idealistic vision."
