Google CEO Larry Page is holding a rare Q&A session with attendees of today's Google I/O keynote, and he's been offering up some pretty unfiltered answers. In response to a question about reducing negativity and focusing on changing the world, Page noted that "the pace of change is increasing" and said that "we haven't adapted systems to deal with that." Specifically, he said that "not all change is good" and said that we need to build "mechanisms to allow experimentation."
That's when his response got really interesting. "There are many exciting things you could do that are illegal or not allowed by regulation," Page said. "And that's good, we don't want to change the world. But maybe we can set aside a part of the world." He likened this potential free-experimentation zone to Burning Man and said that we need "some safe places where we can try things and not have to deploy to the entire world." Google is already well-known for coming up with some pretty interesting ideas — the idea of seeing what Page could come up with in this lawless beta-test country is simultaneously exciting and a bit terrifying.
Comments
Next Article: Larry Page wants to ‘ask the next question’
But seriously, Larry should get together with Pirate Bay folks and Julian Assange.
By RTFM on 05.15.13 3:46pm
Next article: Larry Page reveals Google’s new campus:
By Clock on 05.15.13 3:50pm
thats the same exact thing I thought when I read the headline
By gzaleski on 05.15.13 4:18pm
Having watched the keynote today, I would consider this headline link bait. He didn’t say “unregulated experimentation” and even liked it to the Burning Man events.
By Rufus M on 05.15.13 6:57pm
IMHO his view of Burning Man is somewhat romanticized in terms of what it is. And yes I’ve been to one. In theory it’s nice but it has a lot of problems, some of them violent some of them more in line with their impact on the local environment.
By Lomifeh on 05.16.13 8:06am
Can you site references? Everything I’ve seen has shown a much lower crime rate comparable to a city of it’s size. And while Burning Man is definitely resource intensive, the actual impact on the playa is almost non-existent when compared to other festivals.
More importantly, I think his point refers to the ability of a small society of highly personally accountable citizens to test boundaries and social norms in a way that might elucidate a more effective means to accomplish a whole range of societal issues while mitigating the experiments that result in a less desired outcome.
By thalassicus on 05.16.13 6:18pm
Sexual assaults tend to be higher at burning man I’ll have to find the stats again. Also they haven’t really handled those very well in the past with their main thing being “we can drive you someplace to take care of that.”
Regarding local impact I recall back in 2009 the giant oil burning monstrosity. And they have had to make changes such as how things are burned due to scarring of the land. It has an impact.
I know what he was trying to say but it is utter BS. It was a throw away comparison. He wants to be able to do things like store health records without those pesky privacy laws that protect people, or things like safety regulations so they can test self-driving cars as they please. What he wants is Googleland where he knows best on what should be allowed.
By Lomifeh on 05.17.13 8:51pm
By Antipole on 05.15.13 4:19pm
You and me both. [starts packing his stuff]
By bangishotyou on 05.15.13 5:01pm
“A Googler chooses, a slave obeys!”
By Nortalud on 05.15.13 4:34pm
Well…. Schmidt already did…
By Ghost650 on 05.15.13 4:06pm
On a side-news-note, Serbia’s PM’s visiting Silicon Valley, just this week. Guessing Serbia’s been elected bitch, sorry beta, state. Drats.
By dada81 on 05.15.13 6:05pm
The Island of Dr. Moreau Larry Page.
By Turbofrog on 05.15.13 3:49pm
Yeah, they’d aim for utopia but I think it’d be hell.
By drewkerr on 05.15.13 7:26pm
I mean the Chinese government gets to do that all the time, so why not Google? :-P
By probablyup on 05.15.13 3:49pm
By Eazy75217 on 05.15.13 3:55pm
I don’t see why this wouldn’t be impossible. I would certainly entertain creating it.
By StrawberryMan on 05.15.13 3:56pm
without trying to sound TOO cheesy…..
this IS a very exciting time to be alive. The world’s changed more in the last 50 years, than it had in the 1000 years before it. WIth new devices, space exploration FINALLY gathering momentum after decades of NASA treading water with government budgets……. I’m happy to be here and looking ahead.
Cheese over.
By paddylaz on 05.15.13 3:58pm
I’ve thought the same thing so many times. I’m 33 now, been into computers since I was 13. I’m absolutely thrilled to be alive right now with somewhere in the neighborhood of 40-50 years left to my life. I’m excited to see where technology takes us.
About Page’s comments though, he really does sound like he wants to build Rapture from Bioshock…
By groberts1980 on 05.15.13 4:23pm
What if he was thinking of building something much more realistic, like an area leased on Blueseed?
We’ve spoken with Google already, BTW.
By Blueseed on 05.15.13 7:46pm
Ever heard of Chronocetrism?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronocentrism
By KPP on 05.15.13 6:21pm
Chronocentrism or not, technology’s rate of improvement is growing exponentially, and we’re starting to see some really impressive rates of change.
By ExistentialEnso on 05.16.13 12:40am
Google invites countries to apply as a beta test country this summer.
North Korea renames itself as “Google”.
By yieldway17 on 05.15.13 3:58pm
Kim Jong Un ain’t no sell out!
But I think Greece might be within Larry’s budget…
By JimboLodisC on 05.15.13 7:53pm
Larry Ellison personally bought a Hawaiian island. Maybe Google could buy Cuba. :p
By Kilorad on 05.19.13 3:45pm