Here is an experiment that you can try out from home to see if you come to the same results that i did. Go to your favorite search engine, which ever one you use like Google, Bing, Yahoo, Duckduckgo etc and type in a search query for something you like and note the order of the results. Now open a different browser and go to the same search engine and type in the same search query and note the results from that. If you are not signed into both using the same username you should notice that they are different.
Why is that? If the search engine is getting you the best results for your search query then surely they should give the same results no matter what you use to search right? Well no, this is because the way the search engines work.
A simplified way of explaining how they work is they look at your past search history and build up a picture of the kinds of things you like and what type of person you are and then tailor the results to fit what they think you will like the most. So instead of giving you the best result for everyone, its giving you the best results it thinks would be best for you.
Why does this matter you ask? Well another way to show this is ask a friend to open their device and go to their favorite search engine and type the same search as you (this works better if you both use the same search engine) and then compare the results from their device and to yours. You should see differences. This is because the search engine is giving you both results that it thinks you are wanting to see, not the best results overall for your search query. This leads to one person getting one result and another getting a different result and then both thinking their answer is correct when in fact they could both be wrong.
We are allowing computer algorythms to determine our information and how we see the world. When you search for news you are given results that the computer thinks are more relevant to you instead of maybe the full news picture which means you could be missing stories because the computer thinks you wouldnt be interested which then leads you to only seeing one side of an argument and your idea of the world to be slanted to whatever direction the computer thinks you should be going.
This is a dangerous way of thinking as this is one of the main ways people can be given false news and false facts, they then use the false facts to make up their mind about a situation and could act against what is true because they have been fed false facts just from their search engine.
Make sure when you do your searches online that you dont just stick to one search engine, vary them and check results between a few to make sure you have the full picture because without the full information we dont have all the facts.
Why is that? If the search engine is getting you the best results for your search query then surely they should give the same results no matter what you use to search right? Well no, this is because the way the search engines work.
A simplified way of explaining how they work is they look at your past search history and build up a picture of the kinds of things you like and what type of person you are and then tailor the results to fit what they think you will like the most. So instead of giving you the best result for everyone, its giving you the best results it thinks would be best for you.
Why does this matter you ask? Well another way to show this is ask a friend to open their device and go to their favorite search engine and type the same search as you (this works better if you both use the same search engine) and then compare the results from their device and to yours. You should see differences. This is because the search engine is giving you both results that it thinks you are wanting to see, not the best results overall for your search query. This leads to one person getting one result and another getting a different result and then both thinking their answer is correct when in fact they could both be wrong.
We are allowing computer algorythms to determine our information and how we see the world. When you search for news you are given results that the computer thinks are more relevant to you instead of maybe the full news picture which means you could be missing stories because the computer thinks you wouldnt be interested which then leads you to only seeing one side of an argument and your idea of the world to be slanted to whatever direction the computer thinks you should be going.
This is a dangerous way of thinking as this is one of the main ways people can be given false news and false facts, they then use the false facts to make up their mind about a situation and could act against what is true because they have been fed false facts just from their search engine.
Make sure when you do your searches online that you dont just stick to one search engine, vary them and check results between a few to make sure you have the full picture because without the full information we dont have all the facts.
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