Search: How the Data Explosion Makes Us Smarter

Holds up a mirror to our time to see if search can keep up

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Holds up a mirror to our time to see if search can keep up

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@StefanWeitz Hi! Thanks so much for joining us today 😀 Has there been any critique of your book so far that you agree with?

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11yr ago

Search: How the Data Explosion Makes Us Smarter

Maker

@ems_hodge Hi! There have been a number of critiques mostly focusing on a) more data doesn't mean better decisions (partly agree and address in the book), b) that the privacy and security concerns will outweigh the perceived value (also partially agree but do outline a few potential solutions) , and c) that all of this sounds like it is replacing human free will with deterministic outcomes (partially agree if people let themselves be fully guided by machine intelligence rather than see it for what it is - a hinge that augments our natural (and better) human capabilities in some areas).

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11yr ago

SlidesUp API

Thanks for doing the AMA Stefan. People thought that the semantic web/RDF would be a big thing. Is this necessary to get the next big innovation in search? If not, what is the next enabler required to make better search?

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11yr ago

Search: How the Data Explosion Makes Us Smarter

Maker

@kunalslab Great question. Semantics and RDF are both critical underpinnings to the systems making better sense of the world around them. The major advance has come in the last several years where people and producers have begun to 'markup' the world both implicitly (through posts of all kinds that contain many pieces of metadata about the post) and explicitly (where manufacturers and producers are putting more, detailed information about their goods online). The challenge we had with RDF and markup generally in the past was that there was no frictionless way nor massive incentive for producers to use it. For search to truly get better, it needs more data about us - done in a way that protects whatever level of privacy is important to an individual and it needs a new business model that doesn't rely solely on keyword ads.

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11yr ago

The Best Life Planner 2021

A lot of companies talk about the value of data, but few seem to be *exceptional* at parsing through it, objectively telling a story about what a set of data means, and using the data to meaningfully impact the future growth of a channel of—or entire—business. (1) Can you think of a person/company you really admire that utilizes data well? (2) How can we get better at using data to better understand customers/product-market fit vs. validate assumptions?

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11yr ago

Search: How the Data Explosion Makes Us Smarter

Maker

@melissajoykong I don't think there is a technology yet that can automatically tell a story from data - there is still a human needed to provide the color. I will say companies like Datasift, Dataminr, Ayasdi, Sensai and Blockfeed are all good examples of companies that are taking the deluge of data and making some sense of it. Bluekai from the ad world uses data well because they afford users a degree of transparency that others lack. Datalogix also does interesting work blending offline and online data to drive advertising efficacy. To your second question, companies like I mention above are helpful in helping companies validate hypothesis about their product (they won't tell you if your product works, but they can answer questions you might have).

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11yr ago

Startup TV

@StefanWeitz What impact do you think Google's restructuring will have on their search businesses. As the changes have been fundamentally happening over the last few years already, do you think not much? Do you think it's just a move to unleash innovation in their other various businesses or will this allow their search business to refocus?

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11yr ago

Search: How the Data Explosion Makes Us Smarter

Maker

@erictwillis I think it's mostly about financial engineering. I think it's a very cool concept and people are comparing it Buffet's Berkshire but I think that is an odd comparison. Berkshire avoids talking about 'synergies' within the portfolio but for much of what Alphabet purports it wants to do, synergies among the companies will be required. I wonder how much innovation will be hampered (and this is a question, not a statement) because these businesses now are run as separate entities, each with their own set of priorities and goals.

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11yr ago

TRDATA

Hi @stefanweitz! How do you think, what will be the biggest change in search technologies within the next 5 years?

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11yr ago

Search: How the Data Explosion Makes Us Smarter

Maker

@ekaterinaklink That we will stop thinking about it as search :). Seriously, if the industry does its job correctly, someone saying "let me google or bing that" will sounds as odd as someone saying "I'm going to get online". It will simply be part of the fabric of our lives. From the book: * Search will consist of a number of functions that work together in response to a query. * A search “query” won’t be words, necessarily; it will include any change in state. The change could be filling a blank search box with keywords or the change could be you waking up in Macau rather than in your home in Iowa. • Search won’t need to listen to what you say to know what you mean. • Search will understand and take action in the real world rather than just observing it. • Search will appear when and where you need it, even if you don’t know you need it. • Search will contribute to human knowledge, not simply index it. • Search will simplify our lives, performing tasks we don’t want to do, helping us make quality decisions, and ultimately steering us away from actions that are not to our

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11yr ago

Rocketship.fm

Hi Stefan. I just watched Ex Machina last night, and I'm wondering how/if your book relates at all to the themes in that film (outside of the Hollywood effect).

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11yr ago

Search: How the Data Explosion Makes Us Smarter

Maker

@jeffumbro Fascinating movie! There are aspects that are similar - much of what was shown in that movie (besides the anthropomorphic androids) reflects what I wrote. There is more data for machines to consume and reason with at higher fidelity and we are rapidly building the mechanisms that allow for machines to both consume and produce things using our heretofore human-only senses!

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11yr ago

Backchannel

It is my pleasure to introduce Stefan Weitz for an AMA today at 12:30pm PST. Stefan was previously a Senior Director in Search at Microsoft. One of the early team members at Bing, the world’s second-largest search engine, he has been working in tech since he was 8 years old. Most of Stefan’s work has focused on how to take seemingly disconnected concepts find the power in their connection. His most recent book Search takes the same approach: how can the technologies we’ve built to deliver globe-spanning search engines be used to fundamentally guide humanity in different and more helpful ways. Ask questions in advance... :)!

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11yr ago

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