But at 58, Eric Schmidt still remembers struggling with the original IBM personal computer some 30 years ago.
“It used little floppy disks, they were always breaking,” he told Braver.
“They’ll say, ‘Eric, you’re in your office.
You should be working!’
The pants in the left store are cheaper than the ones on the right store.'”
Google is already working on a new generation of cars that can drive themselves.
Schmidt predicts many more advances in the book he has just co-written, “The New Digital Age.”
Example: new devices that bring three-dimensional sounds and images right into a room.
Will the Holodeck from “Star Trek” occur in our lifetimes?
“These digital devices will have a memory of where you were and what you did.
But there is a downside to the new digital age as well.
“Is there anything that can be done about this?”
“It’s always going to happen.
And the best thing to do is to strengthen your defenses,” Schmidt said.
“Humans are incredibly ingenious,” he said.
“But it will take special techniques.
These people are hungry for information and empowerment.”
“So to me, the rebuilding of the World Trade Center is a symbol of renewal.
Would the computers have seen the patterns in a way that we didn’t then?”
“We can get ahead of it.
I really do believe that.”
