What is best in life?In my previous post, I discussed how Google wants to organize all the world's data and make it searchable. That idea was revolutionary. The next step would be to make that data interactive.
Steven Levy of Wired magazine recently interviewed Stephen Wolfram about what he's doing to reach this next step. This man is working up an answer engine called Wolfram Alpha. No, I didn't stutter; I said 'answer' engine and not 'search' engine.
An answer engine goes to the vast databases of knowledge that exist and solves a question. It doesn't find websites with matching keywords and high quality scores like Ask.com; instead, it looks into databases which include, as explained by Wolfram, about nine-tenths of a reference library.
So you want to know the answers to life? Conan and other philosophical greats will return an answer. Want to know how many Presidents of the United States came from the great state of Missouri? Harry S. Truman's name would immediately pop-up. Want to find the integral of e raised to the x-cubed power? I've been wanting to know that answer since my Calculus 2 final exam.
This tool has great potential. Wolfram states that the next step to this tool is using it to invent things on the fly. I can imagine the search for that: Computer, give me something that flies at Mach 1 at a temperature of 100 degrees Celsius while baking me a dozen donuts. Maybe not that simple a search criteria, but you get my drift.
This tool also has great liability. When school kids and college students get it loaded onto their mobile devices, exams will be no problem. Regulating cell phones at school will be even more important.
However, for someone on the go who needs a practical answer quick, this answer engine will do just fine, in theory. Imagine the advert campaigns that will jump to this webpage. Online marketers will be looking for ways to perform AEO for their adverts.
