Everyone always says how brilliant the people at Google are. So when Google does something really, really dumb, most people... still call it brilliant. This is one of those times. Google is planning to build huge domed buildings, each dome encompassing a large number of structures.

Hey, look, they're even doing yoga! How progressive!

There's an unintentionally funny video here which describes the project. The video, made up to look like one of those big screen exhibition videos at EPCOT Center in Disneyworld, features wide, panning shots from helicopters of the Google campus with somber cello music in the background, to make the subject matter look very significant. Intellectuals with strong European accents talk of their vision of the future, of their desire to create buildings which support the environment (awwww!). Beautiful video of sparkling green trees, streams, and rolling grass hills can be seen from the chopper view as the somber cello music plays on. After watching this you feel sure that whatever they will build will not damage a single blade of grass.

Or will it?

What the architects have come up with to "respect the environment" is drab, utilitarian lego like rectangular building structures that can be moved around to fit different purposes. These  interchangeable, ugly, drone-like worker cubes, which compare to shipping containers, would accomodate the Google workforce. They look like crude work spaces for expendable, interchangeable, futuristic worker bees, a Stalinist architecture that celebrates conformity and slavish obedience.

And and over all of that,  a giant glass roof. Yes, you heard me, glass.

"We wanted to create something that uses less energy and less water," said one of the Europeans with a thick James Bond villain accent as cello music played furiously in the background. The only problem is that a domed city does neither.

Because it is covered in glass, the light of the sun will be focused, making it hotter in the summer. Being covered in glass, hot air will be trapped underneath it. They plan to put solar panels on it (which will only work when sunny, of course). But even with that, to air condition such a large space will be much more expensive than air conditioning individual rooms or buildings.  And solar power is a tremendously more expensive energy source than natural gas. So much for saving energy.

As for using less water, buildings don't use water, people do. And I suspect under a giant glass magnifying lens, they'll be a lot more thirsty.

And then there's the danger factor. What happens when you build an enormous glass ceiling in a prime earthquake location? When a quake happens, the glass shatters, and falls in very sharp pieces on the people below it. That's decidely unsafe.

I know Google wants to make something trendy, to show that it is a leader in every field of endeavor, like their Google Glass which failed, and their much hyped Google self driving cars which are no where near close to being a ready consumer product. But can't they also make something practical, that's relatively quake proof and looks good without trying to be an unintentional entry in the next World's Fair?

 Pedro Gonzales is the editor of Newsmachete.com, the conservative news site.