Can Google predict the future?
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Today the New York Times reports that Google’s philanthropic arm has put together a fascinating new way to predict the outbreak of influenza. By tracking searches for phrases like “flu symptoms”, Google is able to tell when people are likely to be suffering from the virus. Reports the Times: “Its news service at google.org/flutrends analyzes those searches as they come in, creating graphs and maps of the country that, ideally, will show where the flu is spreading.”
We here at Poegles.com have long been interested in how the collective suffering of humanity is recorded on the Internet in the various scraps of text that are left by those publishing to the web. Some of the poegles in our current collection attempt to illustrate collective experiences, such as Before the War and At the Scene of the Accident (below). Before the War paints a picture of how war changes society by aggregating a variety of phrases returned by searching for that phrase. At the Scene of the Accident takes an all too common moment in modern society- a car crash- and conflates the results in an eerie pantoum.
We wonder whether in future the predictive qualities of internet search technology will give us insight into things beyond epidemics. Could some algorithm be arrived at that could scour news, blog postings and other types of media for the kind of incendiary language that is the prelude to war? Could an analysis of search results predict other kinds of societal developments, like changes over time on a political issue? Poeglers, like poets across time, are at the fore of these questions, inspecting the raw results one by one, looking for truths in the sea of human experience returned by a simple search.
At the Scene of the Accident
Immediately stop the vehicle
Check to see is anyone is injured
Never admit fault
Always cooperate with law enforcement
Check to see if anyone is injured
Notify your insurance agent
Always cooperate with the law enforcement
The evidence proved Morris complained of pain
Notify your insurance agent
No final casualty figure was available
The evidence proved Morris complained of pain
Roscoe observed a vehicle overturned in a ditch
No final casualty figure was available
Even casual remarks may be used in court
Roscoe observed a vehicle overturned in a ditch
By this time Mike had already died
Even casual remarks may be used in court
Memories quickly fade
By this time Mike had already died
The cause of death was delayed resuscitation
Memories quickly fade
Never admit fault
The cause of death was delayed resuscitation
Immediately stop the vehicle