Is Google planning a microchip for people's brains? Engineering boss at internet giant says sci-fi-style technology will begin by helping disabled people control wheelchairs

  • Google faces major backlash over claims it colluded with U.S. authorities to open a 'back door' to users' personal information
  • But it nevertheless intends to leverage the wealth of data it holds on people to offer them increasingly personalised search results
  • The ultimate ambition is to get inside users' heads with microchips that will download search results straight into their brains
By DAMIEN GAYLE
PUBLISHED: 14:47 EST, 21 July 2013 | UPDATED: 02:16 EST, 22 July 2013

Just a stepping stone... A woman models Google Glass, which is being trialled across the U.S. Google hopes one day to use microchips in users' brains
Just a stepping stone... A woman models Google Glass, which is being trialled across the U.S. Google hopes one day to use microchips in users' brains
Online advertising giant Google's new wearable accessories are merely a stepping stone to its ultimate ambition - a microchip which can be embedded in users' brains.
The company, which uses its search, email and other services to funnel personalised advertising to users, is currently trialling prototypes of its Glass device, which is worn like a pair of glasses.
But Google is staking its future on a new service which will use the information it holds on registered users to automatically predict their search needs and present them with the data they want.
The ultimate ambition is to literally get inside users' heads: using search queries to read their thoughts and then fulfilling their data needs by sending results directly to microchips implanted into people's brains.
Ben Gomes, Google's Vice-President of Search told The Independent that the sinister-sounding vision is far from a sci-fi fantasy and that research had already begun with such chips to help disabled people steer their wheelchairs.
'They are getting a few senses of direction with the wheelchair but getting from there to actual words is a long ways off,' he said.
'We have to do this in the brain a lot better to make that interaction possible. We have impatience for that to happen but the pieces of technology have to develop.'
But standing in the way of this ambition is a major civil liberties backlash over claims that Google has conspired with U.S. authorities to open a 'back door' to data it holds on its hundreds of millions of users, allowing spies to monitor their online activities.
The company, whose 'Don't be evil' motto has long attracted derision from privacy campaigners, is alleged to have allowed analysts from the National Security Agency to 'mine' the terabytes of personal information it holds.
In the so-called PRISM programme, revealed last month in a series of articles in The Guardian, Google and a host of other Silicon Valley firms are alleged to have colluded with the U.S. domestic intelligence agency.
As well as Google, Apple, Facebook, Microsoft, YouTube, Skype, AOL, and Yahoo are alleged to have allowed agents access to their data to conduct surveillance on users without court orders.
Tainted by scandal: Google faces a major civil liberties backlash over claims that it and other internet firms have conspired with U.S. authorities to give spies a 'back door' to data it holds on its hundreds of millions of users
Tainted by scandal: Google faces a civil liberties backlash over claims that it and other internet firms have conspired with U.S. authorities to give spies a 'back door' to data it holds on its hundreds of millions of users

HOW PRIVACY-CONSCIOUS USERS ARE SWITCHING FROM GOOGLE

Web-users who want to protect their privacy have been switching to a small unheard of search engine in the wake of the 'Prism' revelations.
DuckDuckGo, the little known U.S. company, sets itself aside from its giant competitors such as Google and Yahoo, by not sharing any of its clients' data with searched websites. This means no targeted advertising and no skewed search results.
Aside from the reduced ads, this unbiased and private approach to using the internet is appealing to users angered at the news that U.S. and UK governments (the National Security Agency (NSA) in the U.S. and GCHQ in the UK), have direct access to the servers of big search engine companies, allowing them to 'watch' users.
Within just two weeks of the NSA's operations being leaked by former employee Edward Snowden, DuckDuckGo's traffic had doubled - from serving 
1.7million searches a day, to 3million.
'We started seeing an increase right when the story broke, before we were covered in the press,' said Gabriel Weinberg, founder and CEO, speaking to The Guardian.
Although strenuously denied by Google, the accusations contained in leaks by whistleblower Edward Snowden have provoked a crisis of trust in the company, as web users look for ways to surf the internet without being tracked.
Nevertheless, Google sees its future in leveraging the the wealth of information it holds on its users to present them with ever more personalised services.
Glass is merely a part of the company's wider information ecosystem, which it intends to exploit with a new service called Google Now, which will present users with a series of bespoke 'cards' as they log on.
They will tell users the local weather, any problems they might face on their commute to work, details of meetings harvested from their Gmail accounts, their favourite sports teams latest results, and so on.
The service is based on what Google calls its Knowledge Graph, a vast store of information which, The Independent reports, is growing at an 'exponential rate'.
Just a year after the project's launch, Knowledge Graph is said to hold 18billion facts on around 570million subjects.
The next step, Mr Gomes explained, is for this knowledge to be 'present everywhere'.
Scott Huffman, Google's engineering director, continued the explanation. 'Fast forward a bit and… I think there is going to be a device in the ceiling with microphones, and it will be in my glasses or my wristwatch or my shirt,' he said.
 

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Last thing I need is Ad's being sent to my head based on what I'm thinking. Half the time I have to resist a 'Pop up' as it is!!
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small step then to controlling what we think and how 'they' make us think. They will keep track on where we go, where they 'suggest' we go. How we behave and, basically, everything. From science fiction to science fact .... how scarey is that. - Daily Female, The Greatest Place on Earth, United Kingdom, 21/7/2013 23:33 they can already control how you think. Ask yourselves what you believe. Guess what that's what the powers that be put there.
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David Icke has been right all along, they are pushing the agenda like crazy now. Wake up people!
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They will tell us that this is being done to serve us, for our own good. And maybe it will be AT THE BEGINNING!! But what about later when some other government or organisation chooses to abuse it for it's own selfish ends? Just as USA do not have a monopoly on WMD's so Google will not always monopolies this kind of technology. The ultimate question is: How do you escape from 24/7 constant monitoring when the methods of monitoring are even embedded within your body? How do arrange meetings to collude with others without the people who are monitoring you knowing? How do you conduct researches etc? Ultimately it's impossible! The only thing is for people who do not have these devices implanted to take it upon themselves to extract these devices from those who do. But then what is to stop these monitoring organisations from including a facility that detects when people who have the chip communicate with those who don't? There will be more....!
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They will tell us that this is being done to serve us, for our own good. And maybe it will be AT THE BEGINNING!! But what about later when some other government or organisation chooses to abuse it for it's own selfish ends? Just as USA do not have a monopoly on WMD's so Google will not always monopolies this kind of technology. The ultimate question is: How do you escape from 24/7 constant monitoring when the methods of monitoring are even embedded within your body? How do arrange meetings to collude with others without the people who are monitoring you knowing? How do you conduct researches etc? Ultimately it's impossible! The only thing is for people who do not have these devices implanted to take it upon themselves to extract these devices from those who do. But then what is to stop these monitoring organisations from including a facility that detects when people who have the chip communicate with those who don't? There will be more....!
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For 'Google' read 'Big Brother'... or more accurately for 'Big Brother' read 'HM Government powered by Google' .... don't look now folks - implanted at birth identity microchip / thoughtcrime-detector coming your way soon
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google is seriously dangerous. if you use any of their services don't give any personal informaton. they are even pressing to get users to use their real names on youtube. ask yourself why on god's green earth why they would do that
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To "the philosopher" - it's a double bluff you idiot! Don't you think there is anything in this at all? What is the point of Google Earth? Is Facebook merely a social networking site? Every time you log on to Google you are tracked. Do you get it now?? - nickw54 , St. Albans, United Kingdom, 22/7/2013 12:57------------> then don't log on to google you paranoid fool. don't use facebook. go live in a cave.
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This has been talked about and theorized before Google ever came into being. I've been discussing it on internet forums very regularly for at least 15 yrs. Google is just the first company that has the financial might and the R and D to accomplish it. The Singularity is well on its way.
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Google is a serious threat to your privacy and is actively working with the government. Use their services at your own risk.
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