The Google Philosophy, does it exist? (life)

[kevxu]

Originally Posted by Woodrow LI

Many perhaps most of us use Goodle and find it to be a useful tool. But, there are also many of us who assume Google has all the answers and the best ones are the first four or five on the first search page....

Perhaps someone born 1980 or later would feel this way, but I would hope that no one with a reasonable good education would.

Google is simply a tool, it is not the answer.

What matters is the credibility of the sites that come up, and that is when the work really begins.

[gtrguyMN]

As a quick point of reference it's a great tool imo. The expansiveness and other little quirks built in to the engine can help in trying to identify what it is you may even be looking for. For example, I was looking for information on a part for a friends car and wasn't sure what it was called. Furthermore, I need some fasteners for this particular piece and after a few hits and misses, changing the terminology led me to where I needed to find what I was looking for.

That said, like any tool it can be misused and it's up to the user to practice common sense.

[Jerwade]

Originally Posted by Woodrow LI

While I find Google to be a very helpful tool, one should keep in mind the results of a google search are sorted by popularity, not accuracy.
Every things needs to be checked and it is a good idea to look at contradicting results.

On line resources are similar to that of a dictionary.

[DiogenesofJackson]

Originally Posted by Woodrow LI

Very good input from both of you.

While I find Google to be a very helpful tool, one should keep in mind the results of a google search are sorted by popularity, not accuracy. Every things needs to be checked and it is a good idea to look at contradicting results.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think advertising dollars influence how google results are listed. Let's say for example that you're searching for a particular business or a service. Those companies who've set up an account with google have the privilege of their business or website being listed first on certain google search terms.

I get this info, and it could be wrong, from my brother who's in retail. If you google a brand name, like Patagonia for instance, his business site will be one of the first listed in the results. He says he and his business partner pay large sums of money to google each year to make sure their business site pops up first in various search term searches.

I don't know how other non-business sites are sorted via various search terms in google, like for example, if you search Aristotle in google. But I'd guess that Wikipedia has some kind of deal locked in with google because when I searched his name, his Wikipedia page was the first result listed.

[Woodrow LI]

Originally Posted by DiogenesofJackson

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think advertising dollars influence how google results are listed. Let's say for example that you're searching for a particular business or a service. Those companies who've set up an account with google have the privilege of their business or website being listed first on certain google search terms.

I get this info, and it could be wrong, from my brother who's in retail. If you google a brand name, like Patagonia for instance, his business site will be one of the first listed in the results. He says he and his business partner pay large sums of money to google each year to make sure their business site pops up first in various search term searches.

I don't know how other non-business sites are sorted via various search terms in google, like for example, if you search Aristotle in google. But I'd guess that Wikipedia has some kind of deal locked in with google because when I searched his name, his Wikipedia page was the first result listed.

One source of income for google is advertizing and businesses can pay to have their sites have a high visibility in searches.

For the none paying sites the google search ranking is based upon the hit count of the sights. The more visitors to a site the closer to the first page the site becomes. google does not write any of the material in a site nor do they verify the accuracy.

google is a reference that reveals what is available online. If a word or phrase is on the internet anyplace on any site it is probable a google search will find it.

Google is an excellent tool to find what has been written and is available to be found online. but it is neutral in terms of determining the accuracy of what is found.

Some fun searches to try:

Proof unicorns are real

3 plus 3 equals 10

Noah's Ark found in Texas

Any ridiculous phrase

I personally find it interesting there are 2,510,000,000 results for the word google.

there are 136 google results for the sentence:

I personally find it interesting there are 2,510,000,000 results for the word google.

[TrapperJohn]

To paraphrase and old saying: Google in, Google out.

[tonylu]

I have to show you guys something I found a long time ago. It is the weirdest thing I have ever seen and it is kind of related to this topic.

» The Church of Google

I also found another article about it.

Is

I don't believe that having a bunch of search results is a valid way of saying that something is true or not. It just means that there are a lot of people talking about it. What it sounds like from the original poster seems almost like what Colbert says about Wikipedia. If it says it in an article then it must be true. It's amazing how we develop sort of cults around our technology these days.

Personally, I'm thinking of converting to Askism. May Jeeves be with you!

[Woodrow LI]

Originally Posted by tonylu

I have to show you guys something I found a long time ago. It is the weirdest thing I have ever seen and it is kind of related to this topic.

» The Church of Google

I also found another article about it.

Is

I don't believe that having a bunch of search results is a valid way of saying that something is true or not. It just means that there are a lot of people talking about it. What it sounds like from the original poster seems almost like what Colbert says about Wikipedia. If it says it in an article then it must be true. It's amazing how we develop sort of cults around our technology these days.

Personally, I'm thinking of converting to Askism. May Jeeves be with you!

I can't make up my mind if that is weird, scary, real, comical, an actual belief, sarcasm, a parody or what.

But it is interesting.

[tonylu]

I think when I first saw it I learned about The Church of Google from a Wikipedia article on parody religions like the Flying Spaghetti Monster or Last Thursdayism but it's possible some people actually believe it. All I know is that I'd like to use it as raw material for a short story sometime. Just not sure how.

[jtur88]

Originally Posted by sanspeur

It is accurate at what it does, that is finding web pages.

I was not aware that anybody used it for anything else.