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Prepending the source won't stop people from giving weight to the answer. Because it's the first and only one. You would probably risk giving more credibility

Prepending the source won't stop people from giving weight to the answer. Because it's the first and only one. You would probably risk giving more credibility to sites like Breitbart by crediting them with the top result, as people will come to associate those site names with answers given "by Google." If Google gives you a top search result, it means Google trusts that result to be a good one. There's no getting around the fact that people trust Google to give them good information, and Google's algorithms are failing to provide trustworthy information.

DougWebb 10y ago
If Google gives you a top search result, it means Google trusts that result to be a good one. Google doesn't "trust". That kind of thinking is the problem. Google has computed a ranking of the search results based on a bunch of factors, none of which involve any kind of cognitive analysis or judgement. The rest of your statement is absolutely right; people trust Google's ranking to imply an authority that it simply can't provide, because it's magic to them.
- deong 10y ago
  Google isn't just an algorithm. It's a corporate entity with user-facing software, and while the algorithm has no notion of "trust", I would argue the company is demonstrating trust in any source that it presents as an answer in one of these bubbles. We're all agreeing that they shouldn't in many cases, but I do think they're doing so today. I don't care what your internal reasoning is. If I ask you a question and you present your answer as a fact, you're either trusting your information is correct or you're willfully lying to me. I think Google's defense here would be that they intend these answers to be interpreted by an intelligent adult. If it tells me that mermaids are real, I'll have a laugh about it and move on with my day. If it tells huge groups of apparently functioning adults that President Obama is instituting Sharia law, and those people believe it unquestioningly, well, I'm not sure Google is equipped to operate in that world.
- TuringTest 10y ago
  > people trust Google's ranking to imply an authority that it simply can't provide, because it's magic to them. More the reason to expose the relevant parts of the "magic" as much as possible, rather than working as a black box and presenting the result as appearing out from nowhere.
- interpol_p 10y ago
  When I say Google "trusts" the result to be a good one I am saying that I believe their engineers and managers think their top answers algorithm is good enough, and trustworthy enough, to roll-out on a large scale like they have done.

DougWebb 10y ago

If Google gives you a top search result, it means Google trusts that result to be a good one. Google doesn't "trust". That kind of thinking is the problem. Google has computed a ranking of the search results based on a bunch of factors, none of which involve any kind of cognitive analysis or judgement. The rest of your statement is absolutely right; people trust Google's ranking to imply an authority that it simply can't provide, because it's magic to them.

deong 10y ago
Google isn't just an algorithm. It's a corporate entity with user-facing software, and while the algorithm has no notion of "trust", I would argue the company is demonstrating trust in any source that it presents as an answer in one of these bubbles. We're all agreeing that they shouldn't in many cases, but I do think they're doing so today. I don't care what your internal reasoning is. If I ask you a question and you present your answer as a fact, you're either trusting your information is correct or you're willfully lying to me. I think Google's defense here would be that they intend these answers to be interpreted by an intelligent adult. If it tells me that mermaids are real, I'll have a laugh about it and move on with my day. If it tells huge groups of apparently functioning adults that President Obama is instituting Sharia law, and those people believe it unquestioningly, well, I'm not sure Google is equipped to operate in that world.
TuringTest 10y ago
> people trust Google's ranking to imply an authority that it simply can't provide, because it's magic to them. More the reason to expose the relevant parts of the "magic" as much as possible, rather than working as a black box and presenting the result as appearing out from nowhere.
interpol_p 10y ago
When I say Google "trusts" the result to be a good one I am saying that I believe their engineers and managers think their top answers algorithm is good enough, and trustworthy enough, to roll-out on a large scale like they have done.