TED搜索引擎的背后

SowheneverIvisitaschoolandtalktostudents,Ialwaysaskthemthesamething:WhydoyouGoogle?WhyisGooglethesearchengineofchoiceforyou?Strangelyenough,Ialwaysgetthesamethreeanswers.One,“Becauseitworks,”Two,somebodywillsay,“Ireallydon’tknowofanyalternatives.”It’snotanequallygreatanswerandmyreplytothatisusually,“TrytoGoogletheword‘searchengine’,youmayfindacoupleofinterestingalternatives.”Andlastbutnotleast,thirdly,inevitably,onestudentwillraiseherorhishandandsay,“WithGoogle,I’mcertaintoalwaysgetthebest,unbiasedsearchresult.”Certaintoalwaysgetthebest,unbiasedsearchresult.Now,asamanofthehumanities,albeitadigitalhumanitiesman,thatjustmakesmeskincurl,evenifI,too,realizethatthattrust,thatideaoftheunbiasedsearchresultisacornerstoneifourcollectiveloveforandappreciationofGoogle.Iwillshowyouwhythat,philosophically,isalmostanimpossibility.Butletmefirstelaborate,justalittlebit,onabasicprinciplebehindeachsearchquerythatwesometimesseemtoforget.

SowheneveryousetouttoGooglesomething,startbyaskingyourselfthis:“AmIlookingforanisolatedfact?”WhatisthecapitalofFrance?Whatarethebuildingblocksofawatermolecule?Great—Googleaway.There’snotagroupofscientistswhoarethisclosetoprovingthatit’sactuallyLondonandH30.Youdon’tseeabigconspiracyamongthosethings.Weagree,onaglobalscale,whattheanswersaretotheseisolatedfacts.Butifyoucomplicateyourquestionjustalittlebitandasksomethinglike,“WhyisthereanIsraeli—Palestineconflict?”You’renotexactlylookingforasingularfactanymore,you’relookingforknowledge,whichissomethingwaymorecomplicatedanddelicate.Andtogettoknowledge,youhavetobring10or20or100factstothetableandacknowledgethemandsay,“Yes,thesearealltrue.”ButbecauseofwhoIam,youngorold,blackorwhite,gayorstraight,Iwillvaluethemdifferently.AndIwillsay:‘Yes,itistrue.’Butthisismoreimportanttomethanthat.”Andthisiswhereitbecomesinteresting,becausethisiswherewebecomehuman.Thisiswhenwestarttoargue,toformsociety.Andtoreallygetsomewhere,weneedtofilterallourfactshere,throughfriendsandneighborsandparentsandchildrenandcoworkersandnewspapersandmagazines,tofinallybegroundedinrealknowledge,whichissomethingthatasearchengineisapoorhelptoachieve.So,Ipromisedyouanexamplejusttoshowyouwhyit’ssohardtogettothepointoftrue,clean,objectiveknowledge—asfoodforthought.Iwillconductacoupleorsimplequeries,searchqueries.

We’llstartbywith“MichelleObama,”theFirstLadyoftheUnitedStates.Andwe’llclickforpictures.Itworksreallywell,asyoucansee.(AlotofphotosofMichelleObama)It’saperfectsearchresult,moreorless.It’sjustherinthepicture,noteventhePresident.Howdoesthiswork?Quitesimple.Googleusesalotofsmartnesstoachievethis,butquitesimply,theylookattwothingsmorethananything.First,whatdoesitsayinthecaptionunderthepictureoneachwebsite?Doesitsay“MichelleObama”underthepicture?Prettygoodindicationit’sactuallyheronthere.Second,Googlelooksatthepicturefile,thenameofthefileassuchuploadedtothewebsite.Again,isitcalled“MichelleObama.jpeg”?Prettygoodindicationit’snotClintEastwoodinthepicture.So,you’vegotthosetwoandyougetasearchresultlikethis—almost.Now,in2009,MichelleObamawasthevictimofaracistcampaign,wherepeoplesetouttoinsultherthroughhersearchresults.TherewasapicturedistributedwidelyovertheInternetwhereherfacewasdistortedtolooklikeamonkey.Andthatpicturewaspublishedallover.Andpeoplepublisheditvery,verypurposefully,togetitupinthesearchresults.Theymakesuretowrite“MichelleObama”inthecaptionandtheymakesuretouploadthepicturesas“MichelleObama.jpeg,”orthelike.Yougetwhy—tomanipulatethesearchresult.Anditworked,too.Sowhenyoupicture-Googledfor“MichelleObama”in2009,thatdistortedmonkeypictureshowedupamongthefirstresults.Now,theresultsareself-cleansing,andthat’ssortofthebeautyofit,becauseGooglemeasuresrelevanceeveryhour,everyday.However,Googledidn’tsettleforthatthistime,theyjustthought,“That’sracistandit’sabadsearchresultandwe’regoingtogobackandcleanthatupmanually.Wearegoingtowritesomecodeandfixit,”whichtheydid.AndIdon’tthinkanyoneinthisroomthinksthatwasabadidea.Meneither.

Butthen,acoupleyearsgoby,andtheworld’smost-GoogledAnders,AndersBehringBreivik,didwhathedid.ThisisJuly22in2011,andaterribledayinNorwegianhistory.Thisman,aterrorist,blewupacoupleofgovernmentbuildingswalkingdistancefromwherewearerightnowinOsio,Norway,andthenhetraveledtotheislandofUtoyaandshotandkilledagroupofkids.Almost80peoplediedthatday.Andalotofpeoplewoulddescribethisactofterrorastwosteps,thathedidtwothings:heblewupthebuildingsandheshotthosekids.It’snottrue.Itwasthreesteps.Heblewupthebuildings,heshotthosekids,andhesatdownandwaitedfortheworldtoGooglehim.Andhepreparedallthreestepsequallywell.Andiftherewassomebodywhoimmediatelyunderstoodthis,itwasaSwedishwebdeveloper,asearchengineoptimizationexpertinStockholm,namedNikkeLindqvist.He’salsoaverypoliticalguyandhewasrightoutthereinsocialmedia,onhisblogandFacebook.Andhetoldeveryone,“Iftheresomethingthatthisguywantsrightnow,it’stocontroltheimageofhimself.Let’sseeifwecandistortthat.

Let’sseeifwe,inthecivilizedworld,canprotestagainstwhathedidthroughinsultinghiminhissearchresults.”Andhow?Hetoldallofhisreadersthefollowing,“GooutthereontheInternet,findpicturesofdogpooponsidewalks,publishtheminyourfeeds,onyourwebsites,onyourblogs.Makesuretowritetheterrorist’snameinthecaption,makesuretonamethepicturefile“Breivik.jpeg.”Let’steachGooglethatthat’sthefaceoftheterrorist.”Anditworked.TwoyearsafterthatcampaignagainstMichelleObama,thismanipulationcampaignagainstAndersBehringBreivikworked.Ifyoupicture-GoogledforhimweeksaftertheJuly22eventsfromSweden,you’dseethatpictureofdogpoophighupinthesearchresults,asalittleprotest.

Strangelyenough,Googledidn’tintervenethistime.Theydidnotstepinandmanuallycleanthosesearchresultsup.Sothemillion-dollarquestion,isthereanythingdifferentbetweenthesetwohappeninghere?IsthreanythingdifferentbetweenwhathappenedtoMichelleObamaandwhathappenedtoAndersBehringBreivik?Ofcoursenot.It’stheexactsamething,yetGoogleintervenedinonecaseandnotintheother.Why?BecauseMichelleObamaisanhonorableperson,that’swhy,andAndersBehringBreivikisadespicableperson.Seewhathappensthere?Anevaluationofapersontakesplaceandthere’sonlyonepower-playerintheworldwiththeauthoritytosaywho’swho.“Welikeyou,wedislikeyou.Webelieveinyou,wedon’tbelieveinyo