Ales Rarus

Check out what people are saying (and here) about an interesting new patent application filed by Google:

A system includes a floating platform-mounted computer data center comprising a plurality of computing units, a sea-based electrical generator in electrical connection with the plurality of computing units, and one or more sea-water cooling units for providing cooling to the plurality of computing units.

The “sea-based electrical generator” would be something like this:

In general, computing centers are located on a ship or ships, which are then anchored in a water body from which energy from natural motion of the water may be captured, and turned into electricity and/or pumping power for cooling pumps to carry heat away from computers in the data center. In particular examples, the water-powered devices for generating electricity are depicted as so-called Pelamis machines.

In case you’re wondering, a “Pelamis machine” works like this:

The Pelamis is a semi-submerged, articulated structure composed of cylindrical sections linked by hinged joints. The wave-induced motion of these joints is resisted by hydraulic rams, which pump high-pressure oil through hydraulic motors via smoothing accumulators. The hydraulic motors drive electrical generators to produce electricity. Power from all the joints is fed down a single umbilical cable to a junction on the sea bed. Several devices can be connected together and linked to shore through a single seabed cable.

Sounds pretty sweet. Not long before this all starts looking like SkyNet or the Matrix, right? Slap some navigational capability on a floating data center and put an artificial intelligence at the tiller. Get a bunch of them, program them to “swarm,” and Bam! you have a computer network that not only serves data, but responds with physical movement.

Or, you know, maybe I just watch too many sci-fi movies.

Peter Wall (guest atheist)