Why Google wears it well

So Google wants to know your innermost thoughts and track your every move? Wareable.com’s editor in chief is just fine with that

Rethink by Paul Lamkin

Android Wear is here, and it’s much more than a humble operating system for smartwatches. It is, in fact, another step towards Google’s masterplan of a world run on algorithms.

With wearables, everything you say, see, hear, taste or touch could potentially be available to Google, as could the data from inside your body, thanks to their plethora of medical sensors. Sound scary? It shouldn’t. We’ll all be as happy as Larry in Google’s brave new world.

Imagine this: you’re woken up at the perfect time based on an algorithm combining factors from the weather to your hormone levels. You step into a shower already flowing with water set at the optimum temperature.

Downstairs, your breakfast has been prepared by your Android droid – Google acquired eight robot specialist companies in 2013, as well as spending around US$500 million on AI firm DeepMind. No bacon today, though: biometric readings show your body fat percentage running high and fibre low, so it’s porridge all the way.

A Google car drives you to work, where the morning meeting is monitored by your Google Glass so your Chrome PC has all the required apps and documents for the day’s work ready by the time you’re back at your desk.

When you get home, you’re greeted with the perfect snack and the TV will be ready to go with the show or movie that ideally suits your mood. The algorithm knows all.

So there’s no need to be scared, just because you’re putting your life in the hands of an ecosystem that knows more about you than you do yourself. Unhappiness and even illness could become relics of the past on Google Earth. And the only price you have to pay for that is spontaneity. Ready to wear? Paul is editor in chief of Wareable.com