Netizen

Tuesday, April 08, 2025

8: Google

Google just made search feel like magic The future was written in fiction decades before Silicon Valley caught up. ....... something fancy called “multimodal search,” powered by Google Lens. Basically, the system doesn’t just look at an object—it understands the full scene. Shapes, colors, materials, even how stuff relates to each other. .......... Behind the scenes, it fires off a bunch of queries (Google calls this “query fan-out”) to bring you smarter answers than your usual link list. ..........
This update comes as Google tries to keep up with the cool kids: ChatGPT Search, Perplexity, and other AI-first engines that are eating traditional search alive.
....... This isn’t just a flex this is Google trying to make search feel human again. You won’t just search anymore. You’ll talk to your curiosity. And your photos? They’ll finally talk back. ........ Google’s new AI Overviews—automated answers stitched together from sites like hers. People stop clicking. Sites stop earning. ........ Bloomberg spoke to dozens of creators. Same story: traffic’s vanished. Some saw 70% drops. Others had to shut down. ........
now, AI answers often replace the content, not link to it.
........ Behind closed doors, they’ve admitted the shift is real—but no one’s promising a fix. ....... Smaller publishers say they’re being squeezed out in favor of big names and forums like Reddit or YouTube. ....... Google built its empire on other people’s content. Now it’s serving it back with fewer crumbs for the ones who made it. That’s not innovation. That’s cannibalism with a friendly UI.

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Trump’s Trade War
Peace For Taiwan Is Possible

The Silence Around the Trade War Is What Worries Me Most

Trump’s Trade War

Trump’s Trade War
Peace For Taiwan Is Possible

Trump’s Trade War

The Silence Around the Trade War Is What Worries Me Most

What worries me most about this trade war isn't just the tariffs, the retaliation, or the economic uncertainty—it’s the eerie silence. I see no real debate. I see no open, spirited exchange of ideas. No economists of different stripes locking intellectual horns. And that, to me, is far more troubling than any policy decision itself.

Where are the voices? Where is the discourse?

In moments like this, we should be seeing vigorous debate from across the spectrum—Keynesians, supply-siders, institutional economists, heterodox thinkers—arguing their positions, dissecting the impacts, offering competing visions. Trade wars are not small matters. They shape industries, livelihoods, and geopolitical balances. They deserve more than soundbites and silence.

But instead, there seems to be a kind of quiet resignation. Or worse, a lack of curiosity. Is it because the issue has become too politicized? Too complex? Too “handled” by policymakers behind closed doors?

I don't have all the answers. But I do know that robust public discourse is the lifeblood of a healthy democracy—and a functional economy. We need the economists, the trade experts, the historians, the policy wonks. We need panels, op-eds, podcasts, classroom debates. We need disagreement.

Because only through that friction can we truly understand what's at stake—and what our options really are.

So yes, the trade war itself concerns me. But the silence around it? That’s what bothers me more.

Trump’s Trade War