Eric – it’s been great. We’re going to miss you as CEO of one of history’s most important and influential companies. But we’ll also miss you for the strange, creepy, absurd and downright dumb things you’ve uttered. Below, our favourites:
1. “One person’s definition of evil is another person’s different definition.”
2. “One day we had a conversation where we figured we could just try and predict the stock market… and then we decided it was illegal. So we stopped doing that.”
3. “More and more searches are done on your behalf without you needing to type. I actually think most people don’t want Google to answer their questions…They want Google to tell them what they should be doing next.”
4. “Google policy is to get right up to the creepy line and not cross it.”
5. “Every young person one day will be entitled automatically to change his or her name on reaching adulthood in order to disown youthful hijinks stored on their friends’ social media sites.”
6. “The internet of things will augment your brain.”
7. “You can trust us with your data.”
8. “Is there a government that you would prefer to be in charge of this?”
9. “We know where you are. We know where you’ve been. We can more or less know what you’re thinking about.”
10. “In a world of asynchronous threats, it is too dangerous for there not to be some way to identify you… Governments will demand it.”
It’s been fun, Eric. Here’s hoping Larry Page proves equally gaffe-happy. [via State of Search and HuffPo and BuzzFeed]