I have always said that the only thing better than Google, is a human Google. Armed with human judgment, a search engine could be off-the-hook, capable of tailored and precise context.
Well, it looks like they’ve actually done it.
But not Sergey and Larry, it’s Jason Calacanis – and the folks at Sequoia.
I met with Elon Musk (founder of SpaceX and Tesla Motors) last friday at his offices in El Segundo, for an interview for SciAm, and he mentioned funding a new search engine – one that uses a human filter – called “Mahalo” — that’s ‘welcome’ or ‘thank you’ in Hawaiian (aka maybe surfer speak.)
This engine might have a fighting chance against Google. It’ll be announced this week at the “All Things Digital” conference in San Diego. Apparently there is a team (how many I don’t know) of human editors that filter spam and off-the-mark search results.
Imagine a human filtering your results just for you! How this works is the mystery, (and the answer of whether it’ll actually succeed.)
But as anyone who has dealt with an automated dialing menu knows, nothing beats understanding context like human judgment. I mean, those menus have a 90 percent failure rate for getting my questions answered. And I end up pressing zero over and over, just praying a human will come.
No computer or robot has mastered the unlimited ability of a human to get context. This is the ultimate challenge in artificial intelligence.
Mahalo. Mahalo. Mahalo. Anxious to see what you do.
This entry was written by Christie, posted on May 30, 2007 at 8:03 am, filed under Home. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.
Okay two things I need to confess.
I like L.A. and I joined Facebook.
This entry was written by Christie, posted on May 28, 2007 at 8:24 pm, filed under Home. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.
Amazing!
Bob, me and Aili. Okay, it was hot. Very very hot.
Happy!
This entry was written by Christie, posted on May 19, 2007 at 7:24 am, filed under Home. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.
The time is getting closer, as animation digs into the details…
See this article in “New Scientist” today.
Worth checking out: Mitsubishi Electric Laboratories in Cambrige, MA and Electronic Arts and George Borshukov in Vancouver, B.C.
This entry was written by Christie, posted on April 23, 2007 at 7:53 am, filed under Home. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.
James Watson, co-discoverer of the structure of DNA (with Francis Crick, and Rosalind had a big part to play in the whole affair), explained in his autobiography five rules to follow to achieve greatness.
They are:
NUMBER ONE: Go for broke.
(if you’re going to put in the time, might as well reach for what seems impossible)
NUMBER TWO: Have a way to get the answer.
(don’t dream without a plan – as Berra said, “You got to be careful if you don’t know where you’re going, because you might not get there.”)
NUMBER THREE: Be obsessive.
NUMBER FOUR: Be part of a team.
(this will get you out of your head, and bring in needed perspectives — be open to them, they’ll make you smarter. Also: chose members that share the same vision as you)
NUMBER FIVE: Talk with your opponents.
(do the research, understand the players)
*one last thing from me: Surround yourself with people who know more than you.
This entry was written by Christie, posted on April 21, 2007 at 7:52 am, filed under Home. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.
