For example, yesterday I found by accident an article that noted a change in the way the GDP Deflator is calculated, a change that occurred around 1977 the guy said. A detail like that will sometimes grab my attention, and this one did. So this morning I sat down and Googled the change in definition of the GDP deflator.
Google turned up a definition of the Deflator from Investopedia, and one from Wikipedia, another from MyAccountingCourse.com, from study.com, from thoughtco.com, and, apparently, from another 533,995 sources. Yeah, because a definition is obviously the same as a change in definition. At least in the mind of Google Search.
Something very similar occurred with Google Search only yesterday. I thought it was odd then, but I figured it was probably me. But when it happens twice in two days, I no longer think it's me.
One day I ask for "trend growth" and it tries to give me "each year" growth data, and idle chatter on that. And the next day I ask for information about a change of definition, and it gives me half a million reps of a dumbed down definition. Nothing on how the definition or the calculation might have changed. Nothing historical.
So I have to ask: Did Google Search just get stupid?
5 comments:
Hi, I asked you yesterday on newarthurian whether you moved and now I've found you and am reading back through since the start of Feb. so yeah, Hi ! Glad to see you are still at work.
Briefly on this one - you might want to try out wolfram alpha if you don't already use it. For this type of query it can be superior to the usual goog.. and even if you don't find what you want it often points to some interesting/unusual sources.
Hugh-UK
Hey Hugh, good tip. Wolfram Alpha gives me graphs and stats clustered around my question, not just links. Some interesting results there. Thanks!
I see the "UK" after your name. From watching that TV show Hinterland I totally fell in love with Wales.
Hugh?
I think I remember Hugh, from 6,7,8 years back.
Any chance?
to be honest I usually avoid commenting due to the number of people who are 'even dumber than the average person'(ie the 50th percentile) to quote Robert Anton Wilson. and I find that I probably fall into that range when I start arguing! so it's unlikely to have been me, although I do post on various blogs on rare occasions.
I don't live in Wales but am familiar with it. I live in the north of England so we have similar hills and poverty to the Welsh. as well as an often dry humour which I enjoy.
"similar hills and poverty"
Wow. Yes, that's what I got from the TV show. Also, I was very impressed that the show was filmed twice -- in English and again in Welsh. Looking into it, I learned that there is a "preserve the Welsh language" thing going on there, since the '60s I think.
And then in the TV show they seemed to cultivate Welsh lore (like the Devil's Bridge story). And it just seemed to me that the shows creators were proudly nationalistic, just as I want to be for my own nation. ...And just as Donald Trump turned out to be, for which he is somehow hated by so many Americans who, at the same time, want to hand out US citizenship like candy to every crosser of our border...
But I'm getting dangerously close to that 50th percentile.
Thanks, Hugh. I don't usually talk about this stuff.
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