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My dream solution: The EU creates an institution for public knowledge, a kind of library+tech solution. It probably funds classic libraries in member countrie
by willvarfar 1y ago
My dream solution:
The EU creates an institution for public knowledge, a kind of library+tech solution. It probably funds classic libraries in member countries, but it also invests in tech. It dovetails nicely into a big push to get science to thrive in the EU etc.
The tech part makes a in-the-public-interest search engine and AI.
The techies are incentivised to try and whack-a-mole the classic SEO. E.g. they might spot pages that regurgitate, they might downscore sites that are ad-driven, they might upscore obvious sources of truth for things like government, they might downscore pages whose content changes too much etc.
And the AI part is not for product placement sale.
This would bring in a golden age of enlightenment, perhaps for - say - 20 years or so, before the inevitable erosion of base mission.
And all the strong data science types would want to work for it!
- SoftTalker 1y agoSounds like Wikipedia, except for the EU ownership.
- graemep 1y ago> The tech part makes a in-the-public-interest search engine and AI. Which will be provided by a private sector contractor and it goes to the lowest bidder who offsets their costs with advertising.
- willvarfar 1y agohey! it's my dream, and in my dream world it would be commissioned from academia :)
- beAbU 1y agoI hope the academia of your dreams create code that is not like real-world academia :)
- wood_spirit 1y agoAcademia has the full gamut of software quality. A good example what springs to mind is Wirths operating systems work at ETH. In the same way that the early google made it great to put top minds on mundane problems, let’s imagine that an institute can make a knowledge-first search engine and AI. It’s about aligning incentives.
- arn3n 1y agoGod, I’d love to work for something like this. The closest equivalent thing we have today is (in my mind) places like the Apache Foundation or LetsEncrypt, places that run huge chunks of open source software or critical internet structure. An “Apache for search” would be great.
- ranyume 1y agoYou make it sound like the techies will be their own boss. Sorry, but politicians are in charge.
- svnt 1y agoThe democratically-elected politicians are in charge of creating an environment where capitalists can capitalist without consuming everything in the process. This is pretty much the best arrangement we have come up with so far in human civilization. You seem to be suggesting a tragedy of the commons is instead the ideal we should strive for.
- renewiltord 1y agoI have to say the best part about this fanfic is the choice of hero. It's like having Karl Marx be the protagonist of Atlas Shrugged. Highly entertaining.
- Tuperoir 1y ago"they might upscore obvious sources of truth for things like government" Please, don't bring the state into it. I don't want to speedrun the 1984 ending.