, Columnist
Google's Chaos Theory
The company throws spaghetti at the wall. Some of it even sticks.
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In a 1990s science fiction film based on Carl Sagan's "Contact," one line captures the essence of Google -- a company that could have sprung from Sagan's imagination. Jodie Foster plays a scientist trying to reach extraterrestrials, but her project seems dead after a mysterious transport contraption is destroyed. A kooky billionaire surprises her with a backup he had constructed in secret.
"Why build one when you can have two at twice the price?" he explains.