The No Free Lunch Theorem or Why Human-powered Search Kicks Ass!
joe on Jul 07 2007 at 10:33 pm | Filed under: Search Results, Mahalo Greenhouse, Search Engine, No Free Lunch Theorem, Mahalo Part Time Guide, Search Results Page, PTG, Joe Tao, Search tips, Right Action, Michael Gray, SeRP, Jason Calacanis, Mahalo, Opportunity
What constitutes the best of the web? I have been thinking about this quite a bit lately. Writing a Search Results Page(SERP) for Mahalo has brought this issue front and center for me. Usually it seems pretty simple, a good SeRP is going to have a lot of information for the term I provided and that information is going to be presented in a organized and comprehensive manner. If I am really lucky, the SeRP is going to provide what I am looking for in a unique and entertaining format that makes it a joy to look upon and to read.
It is exactly this kind of consideration taking place by a human being during the creation of a SeRP for Mahalo that will make Mahalo a superior first stop for another fellow human being who is searching on that particular term. Google, Yahoo, Live.com and Ask! are all doomed to provide average SERP’s because they are the results of computational search algorithms and as such, perform equally, that according to the No Free Lunch Theorem.
You may not have heard of the No Free Lunch Theorem but you will recognize the results - average or below average SeRP’s! How many times have you typed a term or phrase into Google and found the result lacking? Don’t get me wrong, I love Google and have been an ardent fan of their’s from the start. I even think Google factors human-powered search into their algorithm by using Wikipedia to game there computational search results. Ever notice how many Wikipedia entries make it into the top ten on a Google SeRP?
So the next time you’re heading over to Google to look up a term or a phrase, stop and ask yourself - is this a popular search term - if so, do yourself a favor and “head on over to Mahalo and get it right the first time.”
*note to Mahalo staffers - I have requested to provide the SeRP for any link that was not provided by Mahalo during the editing of this post. Joe Tao
It looks to me like Mahalo will grow. I think human powered search in Wikia.org, Mahalo.com InfoCream.com and ChaCha.com will provide some interesting options as they scale up.The Big G knows that search data by itself will become a commodity. In 5 years you will be able to buy a plug in hard drive with the webs most recent 2 billion site links for about 60 dollars. Google’s precious algorithm would sell on ebay for about $400,000
I agree, but I still love the uniqueness of ChaCha.com, only because its someone actually trying to help you. I got an invite to become a Guide, but never heard back from them about the fact that I live outside the USA.