Regina Dugan: From mach-20 glider to humming bird drone

"What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail?" asks Regina Dugan, then director of DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. In this breathtaking talk she describes some of the extraordinary projects -- a robotic hummingbird, a prosthetic arm controlled by thought, and, well, the internet -- that her agency has created by not worrying that they might fail.

Very interesting TED talk by Regina Dugan on DARPA's (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) ongoing work and past accomplishments. I urge you to watch this inspiring talk but also to take note of the interview in the end, since DARPA is a military oriented and led agency there is always a conflict in ethics and morals when breakthroughs in various technologies are made. It's a complicated job knowing that the technology developed could be used for the good of mankind but equally be used to kill.

Interestingly enough it seems only a few days later after praising DARPA's magical accomplishments and efforts in this talk, Regina quit her DARPA position and started at Google. Brian Mathews commented "Just saw Regina Dugan at TED talking proudly of DARPA, taking heat from Chris Anderson, and only a few days later she's moving on to Google. Would love to know the behind the curtain sequencing of these events".
I for one would love to know too!

Your thoughts?

my theory cause this is a conspiracy site google is now a military project and regina is heading up the google nsa fbi cia division sad times indeed when a search engine becomes a military pet project

reply to post by gaurdian2012


It is no secret that the military and private military contractors are working together and exchanging information with google, but I don't think that google itself is actively working on military equipment or technologies. Some of their projects may be applicable in warzones or in defense related issues, but all in all they are not working consciously towards that intent.
It is said that Regina Dugan will be working on Google X projects, a department within Google that is quite secretive and even Google employees didn't know of its existence for some time. Google X is working on cutting edge science projects including artificial intelligence, robotics and even plans for space elevators. Dugan will most certainly be an important addition to the team.