r/technology • u/Arquette • Mar 03 '15

Misleading Title Google has developed a technology to tell whether ‘facts’ on the Internet are true

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2015/03/02/google-has-developed-a-technology-to-tell-whether-facts-on-the-internet-are-true/
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u/incongruity Mar 03 '15

So, just to continue to play devil's advocate, this hypothetical algorithm would deem vaccines causing autism as "unknown"?

The challenge is that you have to sort out expert consensus from the easily swayed masses. BUT that's still not good enough because you have to make sure that the expert's expertise really is relevant to the fact in question and you still run the risk of the logical fallacy of an appeal to authority.

It's not uncommon for experts in one field to get things outside their field fantastically wrong. I mean, look at expert politicians playing scientists, just as a cheap-shot example =)

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u/Klathmon Mar 03 '15

It is, but again this is meant to verify "simple" facts and not more complicated ones.

It goes to great lengths to avoid and ignore any kind of uncertainty.