Robert McNeesJul 18, 2023

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!

Show threadJack Yan (甄爵恩)
@mcnees I had been testing it with something far less significant relating to my industry, where weʼre the longest-running player. Google served up the name of a later entrant that makes this claim falsely, and did so for years, in its info box. We made complaints regularly, and occasionally it would remedy this (quoting Wikipedia), but soon return to citing the wrong info. Right now the info box is gone altogether, but the other site is placed ahead of ours.
@Mojeek gets it right.
Jul 18, 2023 at 8:58pmWeb
Show threadMojeek Search EngineJul 19, 2023
@jackyan @mcnees yeah infoboxes can cause some real issues, our preference is always organic links 😀
Show threadJack Yan (甄爵恩)Jul 19, 2023
@Mojeek @mcnees Works for me! Or, how search engines are supposed to work.