Re:Ask HN: Why doesn't anyone create a search engine compara...
by lolinder on Thursday December 02, 2021 @05:33PM
(#29423737)
Possibly, but I'm not convinced.
Google's not exactly working against the echo chamber problem, and I think that's because to do so would be to work against its own reason for existing. There are two goals here that are fundamentally at odds with each other:
1) Finding what you're looking for.
2) Finding a new perspective on something.
A search engine's job is to address the first challenge: finding something that the user is looking for. The search engine might end up serving both needs if they're looking for a new perspective on something, but if these two goals ever come into conflict with each other the search engine does (and I would argue it should) choose the first goal. Failing to do so will just lead to people ignoring the results.
Google's not exactly working against the echo chamber problem, and I think that's because to do so would be to work against its own reason for existing. There are two goals here that are fundamentally at odds with each other:
1) Finding what you're looking for.
2) Finding a new perspective on something.
A search engine's job is to address the first challenge: finding something that the user is looking for. The search engine might end up serving both needs if they're looking for a new perspective on something, but if these two goals ever come into conflict with each other the search engine does (and I would argue it should) choose the first goal. Failing to do so will just lead to people ignoring the results.