Futurism Continues Unabated

With a name like Dr. Larry Brilliant you almost wonder if Google is joking when they talk about fighting Aids or Sars. No, they aren't, at least not this time. Google.org's executive director is Dr. Brilliant, and he is part of Google's latest push to insure the business market by fighting real threats to real people. Google's maneuverings, as I have covered in previous blogs, border on a meditation of post-humanism. If there is a problem, Google seems willing to tackle it.

Now, Google isn't directly solving the Aids epidemic, but it is contributing to research by funding grants. It is also working on developing technologies related to meteorology in the hopes that disease "hot spots" can be detected when the conditions worsen in a region of the world. The overall objective in working on this level through Google.org is to lessen the loss of life. Oddly, this still doesn't interfere with the business model I have outlined in other blogs.

If a majority of these diseases are the plague of the third world, and Google sees the development of the third world as its next customer base, it makes sense for Google to be both humanitarian and grow its market. This has eerie connotations but the implications are not necessarily such a bad thing. If more corporations stepped up with funding for this kind of research it would certainly lessen the burden on the international community. Hopefully more cooperation with governments and international relief efforts will net more results overall, but as of yet in regards to this project at least it doesn't seem like Google.org is working with the CDC or any other governmental group.