4 ms·

While i like to see some certain sites removed, i fear that this could give google too much power of what is considered "truth" and what not. Does anyone knows

While i like to see some certain sites removed, i fear that this could give google too much power of what is considered "truth" and what not. Does anyone knows good literature about such things and their implications?

snarfy 12y ago
It might make google's results less relevant. People don't believe in the truth. They follow the general consensus. They might switch to a different search engine because google 'gives bad results'. Mob mentality is real.
- cwyers 12y ago
  According to the article, Google's measure of truth is actually a measure on consensus. Which I find rather troubling.
  - Veedrac 12y ago
    In a sense, it already is. The link-based ranking system is a measure of popularity.
- bobajeff 12y ago
  From the article it sounds like it considers general consensus to be the truth. Which sounds worse in my mind.
itsbits 12y ago
don't you think with the data they already have, they would have already devised some algos to know what is truth? its just accuracies of the truths that may vary in those algos
bsbechtel 12y ago
>>i fear that this could give google too much power of what is considered "truth" and what not This was my initial reaction...then I realized Google already has this power just by choosing what comes to the top of their search results. Many truths are also highly contextual, which makes them hard to pin down. It'll be interesting to see where this goes. My guess is it'll be short lived (like many of Google's projects), as regardless of how well their 'truth' algorithms work, people will go to where they can find the information they want (like the other commenter here mentioned), not the truth.
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
falcolas 12y ago
This concerns me as well. Frequently, I already know the "facts" on a particular subject, so what I'm looking for is some interpretations of those facts. Some information on how those facts actually apply to real life. For example, here's a fact: 1.999... == 2. That's fairly well known to those who care, but it's the fact itself, but the implications of this fact that underpins an entire category of mathematics.

snarfy 12y ago

It might make google's results less relevant. People don't believe in the truth. They follow the general consensus. They might switch to a different search engine because google 'gives bad results'. Mob mentality is real.

cwyers 12y ago
According to the article, Google's measure of truth is actually a measure on consensus. Which I find rather troubling.
- Veedrac 12y ago
  In a sense, it already is. The link-based ranking system is a measure of popularity.
bobajeff 12y ago
From the article it sounds like it considers general consensus to be the truth. Which sounds worse in my mind.

itsbits 12y ago

don't you think with the data they already have, they would have already devised some algos to know what is truth? its just accuracies of the truths that may vary in those algos

bsbechtel 12y ago

>>i fear that this could give google too much power of what is considered "truth" and what not This was my initial reaction...then I realized Google already has this power just by choosing what comes to the top of their search results. Many truths are also highly contextual, which makes them hard to pin down. It'll be interesting to see where this goes. My guess is it'll be short lived (like many of Google's projects), as regardless of how well their 'truth' algorithms work, people will go to where they can find the information they want (like the other commenter here mentioned), not the truth.

deleted 12y ago
[deleted]

falcolas 12y ago

This concerns me as well. Frequently, I already know the "facts" on a particular subject, so what I'm looking for is some interpretations of those facts. Some information on how those facts actually apply to real life. For example, here's a fact: 1.999... == 2. That's fairly well known to those who care, but it's the fact itself, but the implications of this fact that underpins an entire category of mathematics.