{"id":465,"date":"2011-03-16T11:04:08","date_gmt":"2011-03-16T10:04:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.lorenzobennassar.com\/?p=465"},"modified":"2022-08-14T18:36:55","modified_gmt":"2022-08-14T17:36:55","slug":"googlealgorithm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lorenzobennassar.com\/blog\/2011\/03\/16\/googlealgorithm\/","title":{"rendered":"How smart is Google’s algorithm?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Once again, a TED<\/a> conference in Long Beach, California, comes to remind us that we should never stop questioning things. Even Google or Facebook’s brilliant algorithm.<\/p>\n

During the Technology Entertainment and Design conference, Eli Pariser<\/a>, former executive director of moveon.org<\/a> called our attention on how these mathematic functions are based on our usage habits, our tastes and other information from our behaviour standards… to give answers to our questions. The Google algorithm, for example, considers 57 different elements in catering the information he believes that we seek. That’s why there is no such thing as a standard answer from Google anymore. Two different people, from different regions will receive different results for a single search. In fact there lies part of its genius.<\/p>\n

No one will question the brilliance of such tools that have changed in a significant way part of our relationship with technology and therefore part of our lives. However, what Parisier wants to highlight is something to take in consideration. If we make the answers from internet absolute truths, or at least we never question them, we will gradually fall into a limbo of what is supposed to interest us according to our tastes. What he calls “information junk food” instead of a “balanced information diet” that we could accidentally run into if we leave space for noise, chaos or coincidence. “If algorithms are going to curate the world and decide what we get to see, then they should show us not just things we think we want to see but also things that are uncomfortable and challenging and that include other points of view”.<\/p>\n

Anyway, beeing Google the brand that it is, most likely, its already famous algorithm will soon consider chaos as the variable number 58. After all they already offer the “I’m feeling lucky” button<\/a> although it’s not exactly the same.<\/p>\n

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