#1 2009-05-10 00:56:09
Many of these questions can be answered using Google, but only by visiting several different Web sites, assessing the validity of sources, and making your own calculations. Wolfram Alpha simply gives you the answer.
"Why should you, the human being, have to do the mathematical drudgework of doing this kind of computation?" says Doug Lenat, chief executive of Cycorp and a noted computer scientist.
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#2 2009-05-10 01:14:33
The Daily Beast wrote:
How do oil exports in Iraq compare to those of Kuwait?
That depends on whether or not Kuwait is "slant-drilling" in-to Iraqi territory a-gain.
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#3 2009-05-10 02:37:00
Wolfram Alpha kicks ass in the demos I've seen, but people always get over-excited and start claiming things are Google-killers. They're in overlapping but not identical spaces. Where Wolfram Alpha really seems to excel is when comparing two things or pulling up facts. Google has some of that kind of capability, but is still mostly geared towards finding the most relevant place on the web about a topic.
There have been a number of exciting new search technologies lately, though. Cuil was a miserable failure, but the idea of having easy access to different topics that match the query so that you can narrow your results to a particular category would have been nice if it had worked. Twitter Search excels in certain areas, especially real-time story-just-broke news.
One area that is ripe for improvement if anyone figures out a good way to solve it is the so-called Deep Web problem. I haven't heard anybody raving about Semantic Web technologies in a while, but who knows?
There is just a lot of fucking information out there, and I eat it up. I take way too much pleasure in how much data is here at my fingertips wherever I am, whether it's price comparisons, white papers, or midget porn.
I'm so glad to be alive in this era.
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#4 2009-05-10 06:12:21
tojo wrote:
Google has some of that kind of capability, but is still mostly geared towards finding the most relevant place on the web about a topic.
Look, we're all adults here. Rather then employ such semantics, you can come right out, and say "anal fisting." We'll not think any less of you.
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#5 2009-05-10 10:01:24
Exactly. Go to Google to find sites about anal fisting, and go to Wolfram Alpha to find out the average diameter of rectums by region or see how yours sizes up against leatherdruid.
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#6 2009-05-10 11:07:40
the idea of having easy access to different topics that match the query so that you can narrow your results to a particular category would have been nice if it had worked.
Clusty's been around for years. While it's not surgically precise it does help a lot in narrowing down a search.
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