Buygoogle has stressed repeatedly that the savvy Google investor will be tuned in to the truly world-changing initiatives that only Google can (or will) do. These are projects that can't be easily copied by the competition due to the immense engineering challenges or the tremendous computing resources required to succeed. And it's clear that Google has some stunningly ambitious plans which, if realized, will justify a multiple of the company's current $120B valuation.
George Dyson, the computer science historian and futurist, visited Google to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the von Neumann's digital "machine", and blogged this remarkable quote:
My visit to Google? Despite the whimsical furniture and other toys, I felt I was entering a 14th-century cathedral — not in the 14th century but in the 12th century, while it was being built. Everyone was busy carving one stone here and another stone there, with some invisible architect getting everything to fit. The mood was playful, yet there was a palpable reverence in the air.
So yes, Google is building more than just a portfolio of useful applications -- they're building something grand and world-changing. But what?
"We are not scanning all those books to be read by people," explained one of my hosts after my talk. "We are scanning them to be read by an AI."
Whoa. Shiver. An AI? Like Hal or C-3PO? No, probably more like a system that understands what you mean when you search, or a machine translation tool that provides far better results than the simple systems based on dictionaries and rules that we have now. Either one of these innovations could provide a dramatic and durable competitive advantage that would justify a market cap in the range of Microsoft ($296B) or GE ($378B).
Who else but Google has the engineering talent, computing resources and vision to deliver on this promise? If they can pull it off, Google will change the world and make a shipload of money in the process.