When Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt starts talking about Google Search and how it can help "augment reality" for people by giving them "better" answers, it's time to be concerned. When he states that anything but the "right" answer is considered a "bug" in the algorithm, it's time to be afraid.
At the beginning of August, Google released it's updated guidelines to it's network of search quality evaluaters, some of these guidelines are straight out of Orwell's 1984.
If you believe in Western Allopathic Medicine as the only answer to your health care needs, then you will likely have no issue with Google's advisement to their evaluaters. Your searches will be ordered so that the top results will be distilled from:
people or organizations with appropriate medical expertise or accreditation.
The word that stands out here is appropriate. That's where this becomes problematic for me. This will likely lead to search results that come from Board Certified M.D.s and esteemed Medical Journals, who themselves have biases as to treatments and methodologies.
They are not above taking kickbacks from the Big Pharma community for collaborating on the effectiveness and distribution of the latest and greatest new medicines and new machines.
I am more likely to take a more naturopathic or holisitic approach to my medical needs. Those results will be buried or even omitted due to the lack of appropriate accreditation.
The fact that most insurance companies thumb their noses at alternative health options, seems to back up the "consensus" towards Western Medicine is the only medicine. Try questioning an MDs decisions regarding pharmaceutical protocols for your aging parents and just wait for the reaction. It's as if you questioned God about the thirty different pills good old mum is getting. Not a pleasant interaction.
High quality news articles should contain factually accurate content presented in a way that helps users achieve a better understanding of events.
This one, I'm going to leave mostly alone. Factually Accurate is the phrase that gives me pause here. These days, googling a news event will lead to 3 pages of articles from the New York Times, Washington Post and the Los Angeles Time, with a smattering of BBC and the Guardian. These are the gatekeepers for "factually accurate" news media that is "high quality" and "helps users achieve a better understanding of events."
I read none of the media I just mentioned, unless that is all there is, then it's reading between the lines. The narratives that are pushed by WaPo and NYT are skewed from reality and attempt to convince the mass public to believe only their versions of events.
High quality information pages on scientific topics should represent well established scientific consensus on issues where such consensus exists.
The phrase that stands out here is "well established scientific consensus". That phrase has been applied to global warming, climate change, polar ice caps disappearing, and on and on... How many times did President Obama say "the science is settled"? Or Bill Nye the "Science Guy"? Nye is a Mechanical Engineer who is constantly dragged in front of the likes of Charlie Rose to act as an expert "Science Guy."
Consensus means an agreement between most of those concerned. There is a large number of scientists that routinely disagree with the MSM version of scientific consensus. The word consensus should be changed to a majority or plurality or "some guys think." There is consensus on easily quantifiable topics like gravity, but in the bigger picture, there is not a consensus on vaccines, chemtrails, global warming, 9/11 or so many other topics, yet the MSM and Google would like the people to believe there is.
This isn't just a google issue, it's larger than that, it's an Alphabet issue, google's parent company. Alphabet is doing similar things with their subsidiary, Youtube. The determination of Alphabet to rid their platform's of 'fake news' has led to the alt-media having their content demonetized. This has even happened to Ron Paul's content. It's the next progression to the ordering methodology of google.
If google doesn't see content that lives up to their standards, it gets buried in the search results. The same content displayed on Youtube will be demonetized and difficult to find, even when searching specifically for certain results.
The effects of google deciding what 'the truth is' are far reaching. Main Stream Media appears to be working in partnership with google and youtube, to display a unified front to the world as to what truth and reality are. Reading and listening to the sanitized version of global news and the 'consensus' beliefs of scientists and doctors, creates an artificial reality of knowledge that has been authorized by Alphabet and it's cohorts.
George Orwell would've been proud to know that his 1984 was a road map to today, not a piece of fiction.
3.2 More about Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness (EAT)
The amount of expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness (EAT) that a webpage/website has is very important.
MC quality and amount, website information, and website reputation all inform the EAT of a website.
Keep in mind that there are “expert” websites of all types, even gossip websites, fashion websites, humor websites, forum
and Q&A pages, etc. In fact, some types of information are found almost exclusively on forums and discussions, where a
community of experts can provide valuable perspectives on specific topics.● High quality medical advice should come from people or organizations with appropriate medical expertise or accreditation. High quality medical advice or information should be written or produced in a professional style and
should be edited, reviewed, and updated on a regular basis.● High quality news articles should contain factually accurate content presented in a way that helps users achieve a
better understanding of events. Established editorial policies and review processes are typically held by high
quality news sources (example 1, example 2).● High quality information pages on scientific topics should represent well established scientific consensus on
issues where such consensus exists.● High quality financial advice, legal advice, tax advice, etc., should come from expert sources and be maintained
and updated regularly.● High quality advice pages on topics such as home remodeling (which can cost thousands of dollars and impact
your living situation) or advice on parenting issues (which can impact the future happiness of a family) should also
come from “expert” or experienced sources that users can trust.● High quality pages on hobbies, such as photography or learning to play a guitar, also require expertise.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-08-30/people-are-so-afraid-google-now-heres-why
http://truthstreammedia.com/2017/08/09/googles-new-policies-straight-orwells-1984/