I'm bored with Google search results. A "title", brief summary, link, date... All text, lists of text, like the billboards along the road... And the order, well, Google decides who gets to be at the front of the line...
There must be a more informative / useful / equitable way...
Let's start with a different way of looking at things, literally...
Why might a picture be worth 1,000 words? What is it about pictures that make them 1,000 times more powerful than words?
1. A picture allows me to set my own order. Where my eyes go depend on my attention to the details of the picture.
2. The information in the picture is diverse, subject to interpretation by the viewer. So two people looking at the same picture are much more likely to have different perspectives of what they "see". This is opposed to the more limited interpretation of what people "read" in words. The interpretation of a sentence is much less subject to interpretation. In fact, when I want to understand someone, I often ask them to "write it down". I learned this from lawyers, too. The clearest form of communication, in general, is the written word. Pictures are less clear.
Thoughts for another time:
"Time" is how we observe the transition of the universe from one state to another.
What happens when all the matter in the universe is combined into a single point? Is our universe actually a gigantic black hole? Is our universe the result of a gigantic black hole? What happens to the universe as it shrinks into a black hole? As the particles accelerate towards the speed of light? What is the gravitational force of an object as it approaches the speed of light?
As a statistician, I am always looking for ways to communicate multiple dimensions simultaneously, allowing for the observation of their interaction. If the world is complex, then observing two or more variables simultaneously might give greater insight into the world, as opposed to observing the world along a single dimension.
Thoughts for another time:
Is a simultaneously interactive complex system better approximated as the number of observed dimensions increases? How much better? As the number of dimensions approaches infinity... Is there an optimal number of dimensions? Is there an "epsilon approachability", such that as the number of dimensions increases, the error distribution becomes smaller, beyond some epsilon of acceptability?
What are the "dimensions" I would want in a visit to the internet?
1. Some "connectedness" measure based on "where I am" and "where I want to go".
a. Based on my own interpretation
b. Based on others interpretation
2. Some "connectedness" measure based on "where others are" and "where others want to go".
3. Some "connectedness" measure based on "who I am" and "who I want to be".
a. Based on my own interpretation
b. Based on others interpretation
4. Some "connectedness" measure based on "who others are" and "who others want to be".
Thoughts for another time:
If I can only learn by experiencing other perspectives, then how do I get these other perspectives? Is there a way I can use the internet to generate other people's perspectives? This is similar to looking for the answer to a question using Google search. However, I am talking about "taking what I know and using that to generate diverse (and divergent) perspectives for me to learn from".
So, if I state some belief, the internet would respond with "search results" that helped me see other perspectives. For example, I might type in that "I believe reality is subject to my perspective and experience of reality, and that I can learn what reality is by sharing my experience with someone else, who shares their experience with me." The answer provided by my internet search would be a collection of alternative perspectives on the same subject. (Note: Here I am using a definition of "reality" which is specifically related to that "reality" which I am ABLE to share and experience with another person. This is sometimes referred to as "objective reality". I would prefer a term more like "shared reality", since my definition of "objective reality" includes aspects of reality which human beings may not be able to observe or experience in any form.)
Here is an example of a different way to experience the internet as a virtual reality:
1. Pick a random set of images from the internet
2. Put these pictures into a randomly generated collage
3. Observe the eye movements of the person looking at this collage
4. "Travel" to the next set of images, based on the eye movements
a. Eye movements are assumed to indicate some level of interest by the observer
b. The pictures settled on by eye movements contain the "dimension" along which the observer wishes to travel
c. The next set of images contains higher values along the dimension the observer wishes to travel
5. Iterate steps 2-4, forming a "path" along which the observer visits the internet.
I would explore adding a few "personal" parameters to this search/visit, so that the visit becomes more unique to the visitor, based on their personal parameters. (Warning: personal parameters would give less diversity to the choice of images, and thereby limiting the learning one might gain from alternative perspectives.)
This is similar to a "mind reading / fortune telling" application that I thought of, where an image is shown, I track the eye movements, showing subsequent images, and as a result I learn about the person enough to make some statements that seem "magical" in their connection to the individual.
This is similar to a technique I developed in 1995, which I called "tunnel marketing", where, by giving people specific options and observing their choices, I can infer characteristics of that person. For example, asking the question, "Which of these folks do you know?", and showing era-specific names, I could begin to guess the age of the person visiting my web site. By tailoring the next question to further drill down on the age of the person (this is the "tunnel"), I was able to determine the person's age, sex, etc. and deliver that person to a "tunnel exit" that had information specific to that person's characteristics (such as advertisers willing to pay premiums for specific collections of visitors). This I referred to as "tunnel advertising".
