Search . . . for the Motive

In a day in which “Google” has assumed the status of a verb, the increasing role of search engines is readily apparent. Less well known is the significance of the ongoing shift from keyword to semantic search. Yet, as physicist and computer scientist W. Daniel Hillis points out, with semantic search results are determined not by data but by the proprietor's Weltanshauung. Thus, search engines have moved from indicators of what is important to arbiters of truth. “From now on, search engines will have an editorial point of view, and search results will reflect that viewpoint,” he concludes. “We can no longer ignore the assumptions behind the results.” Nor Hillis' analysis. The Opinions of Search Engines

Tempus Non Fugit

Time waits for no man, they say, but will man wait for time? “If we assume that networks will continue to get faster,” cyber analyst Nicholas Carr writes in response to Edge's 2013 inquiry, “we can also conclude that we'll become more and more impatient, more and more intolerant of even microseconds of delay.” Accordingly, Carr continues “we'll be less likely to experience anything that requires us to wait, that doesn't provide us with instant gratification.” In short, grown men shall act as peevish toddlers throwing temper tantrums when their appetites are not sated immediately.  The Patience Deficit

Word Inflation Drives Devaluation

“If we have a million photos, we tend to value each one less than if we only had ten,” Yale University computer scientist David Galertner opens his reply to Edge's 2013 question: What should we be worried about? “The Internet forces a general devaluation of the written word: a global deflation in the average word's value,” he continues. As each word attracts less time and money from readers, it garners less time and effort from writers. As investment by writers and readers declines, society's ability to communicate decays, delivering what Galertner aptly describes as a “body blow to science, scholarship, the arts—to nearly everything, in fact, that is distinctively human.”  Worry About Internet Drivel

What, Me Worry?

The mission of Edge is succinctly, if self-servingly, stated: "To arrive at the edge of the world's knowledge, seek out the most complex and sophisticated minds, put them in a room together, and have them ask each other the questions they are asking themselves." Each year, Edge poses a question to its hand-picked clique of scientists, scholars, writers, artists, and sundry thinkers. This year, the question is: "What should we be worried about?" The essays culled for publication merit our attention, if only for the insights they provide into what the self-proclaimed "Brights" may have in mind for the 99%. Verbum Sapientis will spotlight a few of our selections here. Stay tuned.