[serious] Wolfram Alpha - as important as Google?

[timeshifter]

http://www.twine.com/item/122mz8lz9-...tant-as-google

If this actually works, then it could damn near start a revolution... either that or be the new coolest thing since sliced bread...

[dee-u]

Let's see how will it go but for now I have my doubts.

[timeshifter]

I personally think it's overdue. Google has a limited capability to give you answers to phrased questions, but it's probably just the algorithm matching up your question against a question proposed on a page with the result, as well. Either way, it's time we had something like this.

[Atheist]

Im skeptic as to how good that actually will work...

[kregg]

I agree with Atheist, but I'd like to add that even if it does live up to the hype, it won't beat Googe. Google and Wolfram are two different types of search engines.

Yes, if I ever felt the need to understand facts without trying my luck on Wikipedia, then Wolfram to the rescue. However, if I actually want to find something on the internet, then I'd use Google... for now. And plus, once Wolfram actually escapes alpha and beta testing phases (Google has yet to conquer the second testing phase on nearly half of their software), then I'm sure Sergey, Page, and Schmidt will find the way to extend their current search services.

[MaximilianMayrhofer]

Yes but it's not designed to beat Google. The summary of the two entities was very well put, I think.

What worries me is the possibility that a company like Google will acquire this company. A system like Wolfram will only work if it is maintained with absolutely pure focus. The first thing that Google would do would be to change answers to promote its advertisers. "Sponsored results" and such rubbish.

I think if Google acquires Wolfram, the concept will die.

[timeshifter]

Agreed. The two need to stay separate, in order for both of them to succeed and evolve. Google is a wonderful source of information, but very rarely is it a direct source of answers. Wolfram could be the piece we've needed this whole time.

[BillGeek]

What do you think this will do to the educational systems of the world? Will kids still have to do homework?

[MaximilianMayrhofer]

You can get the answer to a complex triple integral out of it, but it won't show you the steps it used to derive it. In that sense, it shouldn't really have an impact on homework.

[kregg]

Yes but it's not designed to beat Google. The summary of the two entities was very well put, I think.

What worries me is the possibility that a company like Google will acquire this company. A system like Wolfram will only work if it is maintained with absolutely pure focus. The first thing that Google would do would be to change answers to promote its advertisers. "Sponsored results" and such rubbish.

I think if Google acquires Wolfram, the concept will die.

Yes, because when Google acquired Youtube, Youtube has been filled to the brim with sponsored adverts, thus destroying Youtube and it's user-based content.

Google are already wealthy enough as it is. They get 98% of their revenue from advertising alone. I seriously doubt it will try to stick so many ads into the search engine and make it unusable, just to bump up that percentage to a near 100%.

[wossname]

I hope they've remembered to filter out questions like:

"What does the entire source code for Wolfram Alpha look like?"

That would be slightly embarassing.

[dee-u]

You can get the answer to a complex triple integral out of it, but it won't show you the steps it used to derive it. In that sense, it shouldn't really have an impact on homework.

Can't you ask it to show you the steps?

[MaximilianMayrhofer]

I don't think so, because that kind of question would already be ambiguous.

"What is the second step in the solution of {some triple integral}?"

It depends right?

[crptcblade]

"What would be the steps involved in solving {some triple integral}?"

[MartinLiss]

I guess the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Universe and its famous "[What is the]Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything " question may finally get an answer besides 42.

[kleinma]

Something tells me, even that engine would spit out 42 as the answer to that question.

[rjv_rnjn]

But if I remember right, wasn't the question modified to:
"What is the question to which the answer is 42?"
And they were still in the process of building the machine. Or is it they built it but I never got to know?

[kleinma]

Here is a more skeptical take on the wolfram thing

http://arstechnica.com/software/news...ogle-ology.ars

[MartinLiss]

That article basically says "It can't be done". I wonder how many now-forgotten people have said that before?

[MartinLiss]

In the spirit of It can't Be Done.

[kleinma]

I tend to agree that it can't be done.. at least not in the way the guy makes it sound anyway...

I mean sure, I can see something that can answer factual simple one point questions.. that doesn't even seem very "Revolutionary" to me.. if I type in "speed of light" in google, it gives it to me before any search results...

However if I were to type

"How do I use a delegate in VB.NET for thread safe UI updates?"

Do I really thing its going to give me a good answer??? nope..

[MartinLiss]

I tend to agree that it can't be done.. at least not in the way the guy makes it sound anyway...

I mean sure, I can see something that can answer factual simple one point questions.. that doesn't even seem very "Revolutionary" to me.. if I type in "speed of light" in google, it gives it to me before any search results...

However if I were to type

"How do I use a delegate in VB.NET for thread safe UI updates?"

Do I really thing its going to give me a good answer??? nope..

Please see my post #20 for similar responses

[kleinma]

I did.. but maybe what I should be saying is, I don't think it is impossible.. I don't think anything is impossible in terms of what we can do... I just don't think its coming this May to a webbrowser near you

[MaximilianMayrhofer]

Haha I think that was a very important counter-argument.

[BillGeek]

Important and acurate. Even if it does appear in May, it will probably be bug infested. As a matter of fact, I can imagine something like this requiring constant maintenance / upgrading. I doubt it will be able to answer every single question thrown at it with reasonable satisfaction.

[dee-u]

Whatever happened to this Wolfram?

[mendhak]

It got Binged.

[dclamp]

It got Binged.

i saw a commercial for bing on tv... seems that isnt getting much attention if they throw it on primetime tv.

[kleinma]

Im willing to give bing a shot.. but maybe I am too used to the way google does results, because I find that I search certain ways that seem to work better in google than other engines.

[Lord Orwell]

Yes, because when Google acquired Youtube, Youtube has been filled to the brim with sponsored adverts, thus destroying Youtube and it's user-based content.

Google are already wealthy enough as it is. They get 98% of their revenue from advertising alone. I seriously doubt it will try to stick so many ads into the search engine and make it unusable, just to bump up that percentage to a near 100%.

you mean like yahoo search does? Nearly the entire first page of yahoo is sponsored.

Also it came across to me that the author didn't even know enough about computer terms to realize what "alpha" meant and used it as part of the name.

[NickThissen]

Interestingly, Wolfram Alpha does sometimes return intermediate steps for solving integrals or equations.

For example, the integral of x/(1 - sin(x)^2)


It even explains you to use integration by parts, and how it simplifies the integral. Pretty cool... Although it doesn't display the steps for more complicated integrals, or any double/triple integral as far as I can see.

[Lord Orwell]

heh i made the site go nuts. i typed "first billion digits of pi". Still waiting on the result. I see stuff like this making it easy to bog the engine down.

[dclamp]

here is as much as it gives

[mendhak]

I think they clear the images cache after a while.

[Lord Orwell]

Im willing to give bing a shot.. but maybe I am too used to the way google does results, because I find that I search certain ways that seem to work better in google than other engines.

ironically, in the latest episode of system, patrick told the audience to "google the bing commercial". lol.

[dclamp]

I think they clear the images cache after a while.

Hmm....

[Lord Orwell]

bing seems to do video searching a lot better.
type "anal probe" and you instantly get southpark episode 1 with video previews.

[Shaggy Hiker]

Why is it that you chose that particular search phrase to test?

[DeanMc]

Makes you wonder, doesn't it?

[Lord Orwell]

Why is it that you chose that particular search phrase to test?

looking for alien conspiracy sites. I used to operate one. (with a name like Orwell, you wouldn't consider me a conspiracy theorist ) Funny thing was i made mine up.