Google has purchased an Internet startup company that has created software to predict the future based on how often topics are mentioned on the Web. The startup, Recorded Future, stated on their blog that “we compute a momentum value for each entity and event in our database. The momentum value indicates how interesting a certain event or entity is at a particular time, and is continuously updated. In computing the momentum value, we take into account the volume of news around an entity or event, as well as what sources it is mentioned in, what other events and entities it is mentioned together with, and several other factors. The momentum measure is used to present the most relevant query results in our web user interface, but it can also be analyzed using statistical methods to predict possible future changes in momentum, which in turn can be valuable, e.g. for trading decisions.”
What do you think – is this a reliable method of predicting the future? Or is Google barking up the wrong tree?
3 thoughts on “Google Predicts Future”
The New York City Police Department utilized a computer that predicted crimes before they occurred. The predictions were based on criminal histories inputted into the computer. The computer was quite accurate. The police went to the “predicted” location ahead of time and waited. They caught the criminal as soon as he committed the crime. Of course in the city, it’s easy to form such predictions.
Sounds interesting,Worth a try anyway.
Hello and a Good Day to you Alys,
It kind of reminds me of something that Microsoft tried with,
http://adlab.msn.com/Online-Commercial-Intention/Default.aspx
It’s a less than perfect tool they use that helps intuitively guide anyone with an online commercial interest, based on statistics from their database and current online and search engine trends. But I am sure Google will do a much better job in integrating and perfecting these technologies and ideas. They have a vast DBMS, pool of talented researchers and engineers. And now they have their hands on this new technology. I must admit Google really is an exception when it comes bringing the best of technology and mutual benefits to their users. And I’m pretty sure that there are plenty of people out there waiting to rake a fortune off of a powerful tool such as this. It will serve well when it comes to predicting the financial potential of an entity and the traffic that goes around it. Hope it all works out well for everyone. Can’t wait to give it a shot 🙂
P.S – A lot of people in this line of business and others are highly intuitive as it is. I know business leaders and politicians who base their key decisions on weekly, monthly and annual Horoscopes. This technology won’t serve as a substitute for psychic abilities and counseling.