#ross douthat and time barrus debate algorithms

[timbarrus]

Conflict IS the Google algorithm. Take one subject or one issue. Google it. What will come back to you will be based in the extent to which conflict brings increased engagement. Do No Harm is not increased engagement. Obviously, advertisers love increased engagement. Or. Continued engagement. Conflict always wins because it has the numbers. Search Engine Optimization can be reset to reflect a teasing that says: Engagement brings itself to the table. We are animals whose brains want to know What Is Coming Next. Ask other search engines the same question you asked Gemini. Do not do this at home. Only professionals should drive it. The association between Wikipedia and Google is a piggyback where Wikipedia tells the whole truth, but the truth is that there is no such thing. Wikipedia remains at the top of SEO, and the typical user only goes so far as three entries, and  the number of users who go beyond to Page Two is less than one percent. Wikipedia and Google have the numbers because those numbers attract themselves. There is no such thing as competition when the snake is eating its tail. Now, compare. What is the tone of the Google entries. I am here to tell you that those entries will be fundamentally based in the values of conflict which are no values at all. But an algorithm does not know that because it does not discern human nuance all that well. Google will have the most ruthless, hateful, cruel, mean entries right upfront. It is its own god. The others, not so much.