The Difference Between Information & Knowledge

Does the new breed of search engines mark the first step to a real-live HAL?

2001's HAL 9000, as you may recall, was a heuristically programmed algorithmic computer. HAL’s job was to take care of mundane tasks, some quite complex, surrounding the operation of a working spaceship.

The roots of the idea behind emerging new technologies often lie in science fiction. The geek toys we first saw or read about in early comic books, TV shows, and movies sowed the seeds of innovation in previous and current generations of technological innovators.

Recently we have seen a genre of emerging tech: the next breed of search engines. These new engines truly attempt to resolve human problems. They are coming up with good questions, not just analytical answers. Yahoo and Google have both, in the past week, released services that attempt to make the jump between cold hard facts and warm fuzzy responses.

With "Axis," Yahoo has taken a visually cued approach. Google has employed a technology it calls the "Knowledge Graph." Each is a solid step towards the use of logic and use filters to answer real-time questions, boosting SMBs' productivity and eliminating mind-numbing streams of useless search results that can eat up smaller companies' resources.

When your child asks a question, many of the components of the question are implied. Kids ask a lot of simple but complex questions. Often these questions stymie adults. Contextual responses may cross boundaries the child has not yet reached, so we filter the information we provide. A seminal example in a child’s growth: “Where do babies come from”? That’s not an easy or quick question to answer as a parent.

If, however, you were to ask a search engine “Where do babies come from?” you’d get myriad answers, ranging from adoption agencies to female anatomy. The answer would not be framed in the context of the person making the query and the pertinent response, given the age, knowledge base, comprehensive ability, and other factors related to the questioner.

This first step Axis and Knowledge Graph use to frame responses to users, given the many variables in play, is promising. The baseline technology used in these first two market releases approaches the threshold of AI (artificial intelligence). Before you scoff at this statement, a number of factors must be taken into account. A short list of current trends and technologies are coming into confluence to help this new search technology mature.

They include:

• First-person and massive multiplayer online (MMO) platforms
• A googol of searches daily (yes that was a geek pun)
• New-generation Clickstream tools
• Prolific handheld adoption, across all demographics
• Voice-command technology (Siri, Ford’s Sync, and General Motor’s OnStar, for example)
• Widespread and real-time access to the Internet via 4G, LTE, WiFi, and 802.x, etc.

These components are behind the new technologies, which are not magic, but algorithms. As our brains grow we process information at an alarming rate, and we make decisions based on stored knowledge, past experience, and new, real-time, immediate information. All our decisions are based on the question or problem happening in real-time. The new breed of search engines is an attempt to copy this same process tree. What is important to the user, given the context of the search and his or her sophistication?

Watching an emerging technology move from infancy to maturity is always exciting. This new emerging technology will creep its way into our daily lives, supplanting basic day-to-day functions, much like any other 99-cent app.

Let’s hope that the real end of the story differs from the path HAL took. At an important juncture, HAL tells Dave, a human:

“I know that you and Frank were planning to disconnect me, and I'm afraid that's something I cannot allow to happen.”

I hate when that happens!