Snip from a New York Times story by John Markoff, just out today:
A new company founded by a longtime technologist is setting out to create a vast public database intended to be read by computers rather than people, paving the way for a more automated Internet in which machines will routinely share information.
The company, Metaweb Technologies, is led by Danny Hillis, whose background includes a stint at Walt Disney Imagineering and who has long championed the idea of intelligent machines.
The idea of a centralized database storing all of the world’s digital information is a fundamental shift away from today’s World Wide Web, which is akin to a library of linked digital documents stored separately on millions of computers where search engines serve as the equivalent of a card catalog.
In contrast, Mr. Hillis envisions a centralized repository that is more like a digital almanac. The new system can be extended freely by those wishing to share their information widely.
Link to “Start-Up Aims for Database to Automate Web Searching.”
Image (Darcy Padilla for The New York Times): “Danny Hillis, left, is a founder of Metaweb Technologies and Robert Cook is the executive vice president for product development.”
See also this Edge feature: “Aristotle” (The Knowledge Web), By Danny Hillis: Link. And here’s his bio at Edge.org. (thanks, John Brockman)
Previously on BoingBoing: