
Search is too good – A Walk Within Boredom - withinboredom
https://withinboredom.info/blog/2020/08/12/search-is-too-good/
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tbihl
Search as a lookup works, but search as an explorative method is utterly
broken. In the case of building knowledge in a topic, the ideal scenario is
probably something like a searchable PDF, where you can get to approximately
the vicinity of the information, and then you sort through the hits of
relevant words to find if your info is there. It's an obvious improvement over
manually using the index and then looking through the listed page for the
relevant paragraph or sentence. But modern search is far worse than that
because the internet of novel discussion and genuine information sharing is
drowned out in the noise. It would be like going to an old-school library for
research, only to find that all books have been replaced with popular
magazines. You wouldn't be able to get the information you want. The best you
can do in such a situation is find an article that skims the surface of what
you need, and then you'd have to get the research or books by the interview
subject of the magazine article.

And that is the modern internet. You use search to maybe get close enough to
what you want that you'll find a referral to the actual object of your search,
and then only if you pay close attention.

