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!
One reason to worry about this is the possibility that google is using tracking info to decide what response it should serve.
That makes sense for some queries, but not for a scientific question with a consensus answer.
For example, if google decides based on browsing that someone is anti-vaccine, and the person asks how best to protect their kids from measles, how will it respond?
Will you get medical consensus, or a "study" that hasn't been around long enough for serious review?
That isn't necessarily what's happening.
I have a google scholar profile, so it may think I want to see new research results.
Maybe it is just serving results based on location, or the fact that I recently clicked on a link to a story about this study. Lots on non-nefarious possibilities!
But something like this still gives me pause! For a scientific question, I don't like the idea of google giving me one answer when it thinks it can see who I am, and a different answer when it can’t.
Robert McNees
Michel Bozgounov 🇺🇦 🇪🇺
