Google has money, brilliant engineers/software developers, and visionary leaders who want to progress humanity, that's why it's doing moonshots.

It's moonshots help recruit more of the top engineers and developers to work for the company.

The high risk / high reward moonshots help fuel competition and keep the company from becoming boring and stagnant. A small number of them might even generate massive revenue in the future, but nobody is stressing if they don't, at least they tried and the research gained is still very valuable.

If companies didn't constantly try to push the boundaries of what's possible we wouldn't have ANY of the awesome technology and gadgets we have now. Look at DARPA, same philosophy as Google X Labs, it's most successful moonshot was the Internet. Thank you Google for continuing to think outside-the-box and for trying to develop what other companies are too scared to attempt.

Google is developing things such as self-driving cars because that technology needs to be built and is largely a software problem. They have several advantages such as their massive amount of engineering talent and their Maps databases which are playing a key role in the self-driving vehicles.

Don't forget all of the research that Google employees do on a wide variety of subjects. Test products such as Google Glass isn't for everyone, but it has several uses-cases which would make it valuable and it was undoubtedly worth trying.

Why would anyone not support companies like Google? The company doesn't harm people, creates amazing technology, inspires millions, employees tens of thousands, and has made the world a better place.

Google is becoming mature corporation. Nothing new here. The same way Facebook will go. You cant just grow forever. There is a point where you will stop and realize that your strong brand might be vulnerable to markets humors. They are reinventing themselves so they can diversify portfolio. The method is pretty unique though.

I am reminded of PG's essay on black swan farming http://paulgraham.com/swan.html

They are probably playing the same game with these moon shots.

We used to call it "throw some shit to a wall and see what sticks" back in my day.

Doesn't have any better chances when you do it with billions.

This is my theory, just idle speculation:

I don't think Google is desperate. I think Google is a personal playground for Larry and Sergey to invest in whatever takes their fancy - they have the money, and they don't answer to shareholders, given Google's unusual voting structure.

Sadly, they seem to favor flashy but questionable technology demonstrations (self-driving cars, glass, ara). Which is not to deny that some of the spending has been great (street view, google translate, etc.) They're no Bell labs, though, or IBM in its heyday, which is a real shame.

Why do you think self-driving cars are questionable? Maybe I've missed something, but it seems very plausible to me that they will take off; and even if Google didn't profit directly from the cars, their core business would profit from people having more free time to stare at a screen.

Many people are on the complete opposite side of the spectrum. I personally believe that autonomous vehicles are undoubtedly the future. They'll save an enormous amount of lives, allow new businesses to be created, eliminate the need for a drivers license (bye DMV), reduce insurance costs, and allow people to work, socialize, and actually have meals in vehicles (can turn the seats around and put a table in the middle). There are probably dozens of advantages that I missed in this post, but I don't see any reason to not aggressively pursue this technology.

Xerox squandered a lot of what was invented at Parc, but the completion of the development of the laser printer more than paid back the years of investment.

The most terrifying reality Google faces is that it cannot effectively productize any of these "moonshots" it's working on.

That includes Glass, Self-Driving Cars, Drones, and all the other superfluous stuff they're throwing money at.

My suggestion -- focus -- on search. Redefine how we find information again; we're still looking at blue links on a white background with pagination.

In that regard, Google's been stagnant for over 10 years.

I think the Knowledge Graph technology, which I used while I was a contractor, is very good. I think that Knowledge Graph will continue to make Google Now more awesome/useful and help somewhat with search results.

The SaaS/PaaS business will also be huge, but I think Google has a long climb uphill competing with Amazon, IBM, etc.

And, if Google makes a real AI then the value of the company goes through the roof.

Google has not been stagnant for 10 years, that's ridiculous.

You're completely forgetting Chrome, Android, Google Play store for Apps, Google Play store for Video, Google Maps, StreetView, Google Docs, Google Spreadsheet, Google Slides, Picasa / Photos on Google+, Google+, Fiber, Blogger, Google Now, YouTube, and freaking GMail.

And yes, every single one of those things really effects how, when, and what I can search, and what the results look like.

Google’s mission is to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.

To fixate specifically on one part of your post, "we're still looking at blue links on a white background with pagination."

That's just utter crap. If I Google, "When is my next Flight," I'm presented with a beautiful tile that shows me my flight info.

If I Google my street address I'm given a map, and Street View.

I think you have selective amnesia of what life was like in 2004. I mean, Google Maps was announced on Feb 8, 2005.

From the article's comments:

"Imagine a Tesla that was powered by a Google self-driving system."

That will NEVER happen. Ever.

Other car companies -- Mercedes, Audi -- are already ahead of Google on what matters; external packaging, car integration, and vehicle dynamics.

Just because Google can strap a 3-foot-tall spinning LIDAR to the top of an Lexus RX doesn't mean they have any sort of product ready to be put into any production car.

It's a science fair experiment.