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I Google everything

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Re: I Google everything

#101

Post by dagw »

mirsadm wrote: post #64
dagw wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And they don't seem much interested in the answer when I provide it, actually. I'm the sort of person who would happily spend an entire conversation trying to guess the population of Greece and frown upon anybody who tried to Google it. I like the fun, social 'game' of trying to work out random stuff from a few first principles . Having someone Google for it and tell me is like someone telling me the ending of a movi…

I can see your point but I noticed a problem with this (at least with my friends circle). The problem is that I find my friends (and girlfriend) will often come up with the wrong answer and use it as fact from that point on. Unless I make an effort to show them they are wrong it will become the truth and I will forever have to tell them they are wrong. It is incredibly annoying when I hear them repeating the wrong in…

I'm obviously not advocating willful ignorance or refusing to check your work. All I'm saying that I find value to trying to solve a problem "by hand" first, instead of instantly looking up the answer, no matter how easy it might be to look up the answer.

Re: I Google everything

#102

Post by cpher »

dagw wrote: post #33
edanm wrote: post #27

Great article. A side point, but one that is more interesting to me: in my social circle, I'm the only person who actually Googles everything. When I sit down to have a conversation with most people, and questions about facts come up, I instinctively start Googling. Almost no one else does this. People will prefer to spend an entire conversation trying to guess the population of e.g. Greece, rather than spend 5 secon…

And they don't seem much interested in the answer when I provide it, actually. I'm the sort of person who would happily spend an entire conversation trying to guess the population of Greece and frown upon anybody who tried to Google it. I like the fun, social 'game' of trying to work out random stuff from a few first principles . Having someone Google for it and tell me is like someone telling me the ending of a movi…

This reminds me of a book we used in grad school in the mid-90s. Taught us methods of estimation without knowing all the facts. Something about a cow, etc. FWIW, Google didn't help me find the book. The book discussed techniques of estimation that sound like the typical Google/MS/Facebook interview. This was pre-Google, so we had to use our intuition and estimation skills. Very valuable

Re: I Google everything

#103

Post by skanuj »

cinch wrote: post #90
vibrunazo wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's interesting. I didn't know people would think like that. Your post explains a lot, now the world makes much more sense. Thanks for posting it :) Now I wish people online would put a huge disclaimer saying "I'm only interested in arguing for the fun of it, not in finding an actual solution" before their posts. That would have saved countless hours of online typing wasted for nothing. I mean, nothing wrong with…

"Now I wish people online would put a huge disclaimer saying "I'm only interested in arguing for the fun of it, not in finding an actual solution" before their posts. That would have saved countless hours of online typing wasted for nothing." there's many things that get expressed "between the lines". arguing for the fun of it has benefits. for one, ideas get exchanged, validated and who knows: maybe something useful…

Arguing an idea vs arguing a fact are different things. ("Reply" is meant to bring the comment in right thread, not to counter the previous comment)

Re: I Google everything

#105

Post by quantumstate »

freehunter wrote: post #76
corin_ wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Yes, that's the same thing I was referring to. Talking shit (with no modifier) is, in my experience, an uncommon phrase to use in a sentence No, no, no! In the UK it is not uncommon! People over here are talking shit all the time, often not about anyone.

Language is a wonderful, complex, irritating thing. The same words in the same language meaning two different, completely context-sensitive things. The same word being used in completely different ways. Not being able to describe the use of a word without long, protracted arguments giving multiple examples of the usage. Even in the same county, the same language is used differently based on geographical region. It am…

I'm actually pretty surprised about the curry thing. Here in the UK we get so much US media (films and TV) that I feel like I have a fairly good grasp of what they have in America. Not having curry has shocked me though.

Re: I Google everything

#106

Post by ggchappell »

vibrunazo wrote: post #60
dagw wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And they don't seem much interested in the answer when I provide it, actually. I'm the sort of person who would happily spend an entire conversation trying to guess the population of Greece and frown upon anybody who tried to Google it. I like the fun, social 'game' of trying to work out random stuff from a few first principles . Having someone Google for it and tell me is like someone telling me the ending of a movi…

That's interesting. I didn't know people would think like that. Your post explains a lot, now the world makes much more sense. Thanks for posting it :) Now I wish people online would put a huge disclaimer saying "I'm only interested in arguing for the fun of it, not in finding an actual solution" before their posts. That would have saved countless hours of online typing wasted for nothing. I mean, nothing wrong with…

> But I wish I could accurately tell when that's the person's goal, versus whether it's a person who actually finds solving real problems more fun than talking, like I do.

I think you're still missing it. Have you never enjoyed a movie with a surprise ending (as the GP pointed out)? Would it have been just as fun if someone had given you a 30-second summary of the plot? What about working out puzzles, brain-teasers, etc.? I like all of this stuff; I also solving real-world problems. I think the point is not that there are different kinds of people [1], but that there are different kinds of discussions. And, yes, it is good to know what kind one is involved in.

[1] Although there are. :-)

Re: I Google everything

#107

Post by jedbrown »

elliottkember wrote: post #75

I hate this fact. Not because the internet is in peril of going down, or because it's not convenient (of course it is) - but because we're confusing access to information with knowledge. Access to information will tell you a number, or an answer, or even give you an amount of text about something. But knowledge lets you understand the bigger picture - how something came to be, or why. At some point we become the need…

Trivia is not useful knowledge in today's world. The most important thing is problem formulation. Once you have figured out the right question to ask, answering it is usually easy.

Re: I Google everything

#108

Post by tene »

minikites wrote: post #58
dagw wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And they don't seem much interested in the answer when I provide it, actually. I'm the sort of person who would happily spend an entire conversation trying to guess the population of Greece and frown upon anybody who tried to Google it. I like the fun, social 'game' of trying to work out random stuff from a few first principles . Having someone Google for it and tell me is like someone telling me the ending of a movi…

Watch out for the Anchoring Effect: http://youarenotsosmart.com/2010/07/27/anchoring-effect/ Is the population of Venezuela greater or fewer than 65 million? Go ahead and guess. Ok, another question, how many people do you think live Venezuela?

To save someone else the time of looking it up, it's about 29 million.

Re: I Google everything

#109

Post by nazgulnarsil »

edanm wrote: post #27

Great article. A side point, but one that is more interesting to me: in my social circle, I'm the only person who actually Googles everything. When I sit down to have a conversation with most people, and questions about facts come up, I instinctively start Googling. Almost no one else does this. People will prefer to spend an entire conversation trying to guess the population of e.g. Greece, rather than spend 5 secon…

"facts" are not the primary use case for language.

Re: I Google everything

#110

Post by nazgulnarsil »

manaskarekar wrote: post #3

Mandatory xkcd : http://xkcd.com/903/ You know, I do this a lot. It affects me in interviews as well. But the paranoid OCD geek in me wants to retain a local copy of all the information in case the internet ceases to be, and as much as I can in my brain. I have considered locally copying wikipedia but given up after the effort that might be required. Anyone got any experience or tips? This is also why I love man page…

He who controls wikipedia controls the future.
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