@#$%^&*????

Search is so f’d

What does the Internet Make of Us? is a piece I wrote in Medium that has had 2,500 views so far. But Google doesn’t find it. Not with the query Doc Searls “What does the Internet make of us?”

Bing gives me (no shit) L”ago Baikal (Rússia) – Na Sibéria, o lago mais profundo do mundo também é conhecido por fenômenos estranhos. Pescadores e mergulhadores relatam luzes submersas e aparições de figuras humanoides nas águas geladas. Durante a Guerra Fria, militares soviéticos registraram eventos …” elipsis and all, in a large white space above an even more useless list of search results than Google’s. Fifth down on the list is J. Doyne Farmer – Wikipedia. At the bottom of that result it says, “Missing: Doc Searls · “What does the Internet make of us?” Must include: Doc Searls · ‘What does the Internet make of us?’”

There is also is an enshittifying popover obscuring the bottom left quarter of the search results that says “Turn your searches into gift cards with the Microsoft Rewards Extension.” Way to sell, Microsoft.

At least Google’s results are all for pieces I’ve written here that include links to the Medium piece. Some of Bing’s do, some don’t.

When I asked Gemini to find the piece, it did, and then naturally asked a bunch of shit it assumed I might be interested in but was not. Then I asked it why it found what I wanted and Google didn’t. Translated from Bullshit, its answer said, “Stuff Doc Searls wrote about a piece Doc Searls wrote matters more than the piece Doc Searls wrote.”

Angels of Cities

On the ground now (context) in Los Angeles (actually San Marino, but all this sprawl is Los Angeles), reminded afresh that I love this place. I just took a walk in 57° weather. It’s clear, the sun is up, and the expected high is 82°.  Perfect. I also drove to the Pasadena Peet’s to fetch a couple of breve cortados (which Peet’s has had far longer than Starbucks), renewing a ritual not possible anywhere in Indiana (though there is good coffee to be had, just not Peet’s).

We’re heading to our house in Santa Barbara tomorrow. While not perfect (no place is), Santa Barbara comes closer to perfect than any other city I know. It’s no exaggeration that a Special Weather Statement would be “It’s not perfect today. It might rain.”

Mostly we’re elsewhere, but it’ll be good to be back for the holidays. And while I enjoy the city and our many friends there, I also feel the same about Boston, Cape Cod, the Bay Area, North Carolina, Seattle, New York, Indiana, and all the other places we’ve lived and gathered friends across the decades. All of their cities and regions yearn toward perfection, too. So hats off.