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Google Truth Rankings

At first glance, this seems like something that should excite me.

The more I think about it, though, the more I wonder if it's really a good idea to have Google out there telling us what's true and what isn't. Our society already has problems with accepting things that are questionable (at best), and while I'd love to have a database that was ranked solely on verifiable facts... well, what happens when someone decides to subtly alter (or even suppress) one of those facts to fit some agenda?

Furthermore, how are we ranking the veracity of these facts? In the not-too-distant past, homosexuality was defined as a mental illness, and it was actually "immoral" to suggest otherwise. Had Google been around back then, it wouldn't have been able to rank the actual science as being more accurate, because any attempts at publishing such things were quashed.

Don't get me wrong, I'm all in favor of progress, and I think a repository of verifiable knowledge is a good thing. I only hope that we can approach this carefully and logically, and that we really do focus on facts, rather than just what we want to be true.

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