Allison ParrishApr 25, 2017

ok so

(1) the language of search queries (for, e.g., google) came into existence because of the keyword-oriented tech originally driving those dbs

(2) over the past ~25 years millions have become very "fluent" at speaking search-engine-ese

(3) contemporary language understanding is capable of parsing queries in more natural phrasings

(4) but many/most users still use search-engine-ese, so search engines are probably still being optimized to return better and better results for those users

MisterRoqueApr 25, 2017
Show threadAllison Parrish
so at this point, people are learning a speech genre/register/style specifically to get better results from search engines, which are in turn learning this register/style in order to return better search results. which I guess will just lead to a never-ending, self-reinforcing cycle of linguistic weirdness forever, god bless the future
Apr 25, 2017 at 9:27pmWeb
Show threadالرفيق ناصرApr 25, 2017
@aparrish "allison parrish" language argument interesting
Show threadDarius KazemiApr 25, 2017
@aparrish as far back as 2008 I had to teach computer savvy friends of mine that simply searching Google for the natural language question is often more fruitful than couching it in search-ese.
Show threadr "free" bernApr 26, 2017
@aparrish So we're working on developing a shared language with our machine overlords, which maybe means they​ won't rise up because we're communicating so well?
Show threadNathaniel J. SmithApr 27, 2017
@aparrish And this is why in the 24th century, Picard still telling the computer "Tea, Earl Grey, Hot" every time