Search Poobahs and Numerical Analysis
June 24, 2013
I read a fascinating article called “Plants ‘Do Maths’ to Control Overnight Food Supplies.” Now I used to think the BBC was a “real” journalism outfit. I have some anecdotal evidence that the outfit has wandered a bit, but I don’t know what journalism is, and I can’t tell the difference between a Jimmy Savile and Savile Row. The article asserted:
Plants have a built-in capacity to do maths, which helps them regulate food reserves at night, research suggests. UK scientists say they were “amazed” to find an example of such a sophisticated arithmetic calculation in biology.
Let’s assume that a Rhododendron or an upscale orchid can calculate. What about humans and “real” journalists?
I noted this interesting write up: “Duck Duck Go’s Post-PRISM Growth Actually Proves No One Cares About “Private” Search.” The main point in my view is that traffic increases have nothing to do with the privacy concerns zooming around like migrating geese.
Here’s a passage I noted:
Over the past few weeks, I’ve done several press interviews about Duck Duck Go, where the the issue of whether it can beat Google by being more “private” has come up. My answer has consistently been “no,” because that’s been the experience of search engines before that have tried this. I can imagine some on Reddit or Hacker News or elsewhere arguing about how this time, it’s different. This time, with all the NSA allegations, privacy is front and center. This is the right time for a private search engine to emerge. I doubt it. Having covered the search engine space for 17 years now, having seen the privacy flare-ups come-and-go, I’d be very surprised if this time, it’s somehow going to cause more change than in the past.
My question, “What would a daffodil or sweet pea make of the data analysis?”
Why not Google it? Seed pod closed. Bees dead. Move on.
Stephen E Arnold
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