If anyone is wondering how google is doing, it is giving incorrect answers to the query “How old is the Universe?”
Instead of serving up scientific consensus (just shy of 14 billion years) it is latching onto recent media coverage of a questionable study (tired light, time-dependent coupling constants) claiming a much larger figure.
Notably, it gives me the right answer from an incognito window. But elevating popularity metrics over scientific consensus is a real problem!
@mcnees I was recently Googling stories on a sexual assault court case where the accused has name suppression.
There was a Google question along the lines of "Who is the accused person?"
Curious, I clicked on it.
There was a name in bold.
I didn't know who the person was.
So I Googled them.
Turns out it was the name of the journalist who had written a bunch of stories on the case, which Google had pulled.
Great for their future job prospects if potential employers Google them...
Robert McNees
Andy McKay