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The ideal here would be if there was some sort of model to build up a big centralised generic index and then different providers do different tweaks to the rank
by roenxi 3y ago
The ideal here would be if there was some sort of model to build up a big centralised generic index and then different providers do different tweaks to the rankings on top of that (kinda like DuckDuckGo, at the moment I like their operating model).
However, even in the worst case, assuming everyone just uses Google and Google continues their path of political activism ... this is still an almost incomprehensible improvement over the absolute disaster that has been the mainstream media over identifiable history.
It is interesting to look at something like the Trump presidency in the US and compare how effectively it would have been buried by the media in ages past vs today where they just can't shut a vocal minority up. We'll see the same effect across every other minority group too - on topics that a significant number of people care about it is nigh impossible to kill off a message and marginalise the messenger these days. Things like Assange and Snowden, Epstein, the Panama papers, or the various other political scandals that break are harder to clamp down on. The fake consensus on how great all the wars are is also under constant pressure and getting harder to maintain.
It doesn't really matter if a group like Google puts their thumb on the scale, they can't control the pressure that all the free speech is bringing to bear in any sort of half-free market for search even with the benefits of incumbency.
- immibis 3y agoThe media is actually fueling the vocal minority. If they weren't reported on, they would just be yet another fringe group.
- janalsncm 3y agoI think your underlying assumption is that the results of search engines are uncorrelated, and therefore aggregating them will minimize bias. But they are not. Most news in English will be written by American or British news outlets for example.
- roenxi 3y agoIt isn't, I explicitly rejected that idea. 2nd paragraph.
- kelseydh 3y agoThe genius of social media as an information control mechanism is that it gives people the illusion that they can speak and influence others. In reality, they are just yelling into a void. Unless you are a major internet personality, few people will see your posts. The scale of your reach will be too small to matter, or only filtered back to those who already agree with you, producing little social change from the dialogue.