It all started off when Larry Paige decided to develop a better way to find things on the Internet. He developed the ranking system for finding things that was based on how many things linked back to your site. Because thats how people determine good academic papers is by who refers back, if a lot of people cite something there must be something to it, you know. Anyway, from that Google.started to emerge. They hired people that were brilliant (even before they were profitable). They looked for Doctoral students and those who already had their doctorates. They would not only look at if someone was brilliant but if they were Googley. If you look what their company has done, it is pure brilliance, pure craziness to some. Copy all the books in the world into digital form? Sure great project. Not only map, but map with pictures the entire world? Sure. It would be cool if we had aa car that drove itself. Done.Find a way to use advertising to make people happier? Absolutely, when I search the Internet, often I am looking to buy something and am happy when the answer is right there. Email with free huge amounts of space? Great. The list goes on and on. Think about Android and how if you are looking up something on your computer and later decide to find if on your phone, type one or two characters and it is synced and remembers. How they get where they are going is also so creative. If something sounds like a good idea they go for it no matter how large it seems; like mania gone right. If you work for Google you spend 20% of your time doing a project from your own interest, that is how they get the amazing ideas. Also, if they want to do something, they ask the employees what they should do, for instance during the recession even though they were not hurting for money they did decide to try and save, but they did it by asking people what they didn't need and getting rid of it. I just think a simple concept, what if the government did that? Putting aside politics and asked all the employees what was really needed - they could save a ton. One huge interesting thing they both have in common. They were both Montessori kids. They were not taught at where you sit in a classroom a listen to a lecture, but taught more to explore and learn about things a bit differently. I think that is a really interesting approach to education. I even looked into sending Anna to a Montessori school, but alas, the closest one is 45 minutes away, and I just don't want to spend 3 hours in the car every day.
What if we were all more a bit more like them? If we had a sense that our ideas could change the world in major or minor ways. I can't think of how often I have been frustrated because I couldn't find something, or something was not invented yet, or came up with an idea that would make something easier but have been too lazy to find out how to make it happen. My most recent thing would be an E-ink picture frame, it would not need to be sucking power all the time and it looks so cool. Unfortunately, I can't buy because it isn't out there - not yet at least. My question to you is, what would you have invented that would change the world if you really carried it out? Oh, and don't use the excuse of them having unlimited money (which they do now, pretty much) because in the beginning, they didn't have any money. They just had a good idea. So what is yours?
My invention would be a see through telephone booth for the home. A call comes in and you go to the booth to answer it. You can see what is happening at all times because the booth is see through, yet you can have an uninterrupted phone conversation with your friend. But alas, I didn't devote my resources to develop my idea.
ReplyDeleteWell, I'm impressed Mom still remembers those days as she has a nice quiet house and office now. (Maybe she just got off the phone with me, though!)
ReplyDeleteI have invented a million things. The problem is, whenever I Google my amazing ideas, someone else has already come up with them.
Have you ever watched the show Sharktank? It is all about people bringing their inventions in front of several investors and trying to convince them to become their partners. Its pretty interesting.