The problem with Google…
Remember those murdered by al Qaeda. The war on terrorists must continue! They corrupt religious beliefs and tear down our sacred institutions. This must end until no terrorist is left standing. That goes for all terrorists, no matter where the infestation grows.
I don’t see any political bias in Google searches, but I see two other problems every day. I didn’t particularly mind they weren’t present at the congressional hearing with Facebook and Twitter VIPs either (the congressional committee demanded the presence of one of the two CEOs—some nerve from a do-nothing Congress!). My problems are woes shared by many users. First, there’s the problem that when I do a search, commercial junk often appears first in the results (the companies pay Google for this, of course). My solution for that is the same one I apply on Facebook and Twitter: I ignore the commercial stuff (as well as anything clearly put there by trolls, especially Russians). (I sometimes “follow” a company if it has something to do with publishing, though.) Those search results are annoying when I have to far down in the list to get what I need, and I often don’t find it!
Second, there’s the problem that Google pretends to know what my search tastes are. That isn’t in place of the first problem; it adds to it. Based on previous searches, Google fills in even more junk, not commercial necessarily, but still junk of no interest to me in that search.
All this makes my Google searches less efficient. I’m a writer who finds a lot of background material using Google (AKA “researching,” although, as an ex-scientist, my definition of “research” is clearly different). For example, for my last MS, Son of Thunder (sequel/prequel to Rembrandt’s Angel), I spent a lot of time doing that. For my first novel, Full Medical, same thing (that book is dedicated to a family member lost in the 9/11 attacks). That’s a fifteen-year span. Google was better fifteen years ago than it is today, at least for my purposes, which is why I switched from that old DEC search engine to Google.
Of course, Google isn’t entirely to blame. Wikipedia has some good stuff, but I’m annoyed when Google comes up with Wikipedia articles that warn they’re not complete. Google’s search engine has no brains, apparently (I always check Wikipedia articles because even the ones pretending to be complete often aren’t.) Same for word definitions. Online encyclopedias, dictionaries, and thesauruses are necessary complements.
I think Google has given birth to a lot of nefarious copiers too. Amazon’s “Based on your previous searches, you might be interested in…” is often incorrect—I’m mostly not interested in what they show me because my reading choices are wide, or I’m looking for links to some author’s book I’m reviewing. Clothing stores offer products based on ones I’ve previously purchased—I only have so many pairs of socks. And so forth.
The metatheme here is simple: I’m against any software that tries to second-guess me or interferes with how I work. AI hasn’t advanced far enough to read my mind about what I want. This goes for autocorrection which barely knows English and doesn’t know when I’m writing French, German, Russian, or Spanish amidst the English (as I often do). Another example is MS Word’s continued confusion between “it’s” and “its”—it has just the opposite of what’s correct. And so forth.
Software and algorithms aren’t any smarter than the people who write them. When people assume they are, they’ll get into trouble. On the other hand, programmers at Google and other places should be smarter about writing them if they don’t want to annoy people like me. Of course, just try to get through to a help desk and read them the riot act about any of this. That’s a whole other level of frustration!
***
Comments? They’re appreciated! Please see the rules on the “Join the Conversation” web page. Note that your first comment has to be approved; from then on, you’re a trusted commentator.
Soldiers of God. In the near future, an FBI agent and a priest fight religious fanatics…and a criminal mastermind who is using them to further his own agenda. More current today than ever before. This mystery/thriller bridges between the “Clones and Mutants Trilogy” and the “Chaos Chronicles Trilogy” (pick up those three latter novels in one bundle). On sale now at 50% off on Smashwords.
In libris libertas!
