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[QUOTE=secondpassing;858098]Is it all that strange? I'm just saying to be aware that Google will show you different results based on your search patterns.
I'm not sure how familiar you are with machine learning, but Google uses it to determine what to show you. It takes a test set (your search history) and creates a heuristic (a guess) into actual associations of what you would click on. Depending on where you click after it has made its guess, the algorithm revises its next heuristic to better match what it thinks you want.

[B][COLOR="#FFFFFF"]So yes, Google search results are biased based on your search history.
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[/QUOTE]

This plays into a growing problem with social media in particular, we often put ourselves into these "info-bubbles" where we isolate ourselves from information that we dislike, and based on these algorithms (in Facebook in particular) you're shown content you're more likely to "like" and less likely to dislike. People tend to "like" content they agree with, thus Facebook shows you almost exclusively information that you agree with. This creates a sort of positive feedback loop, to the point where some people's perception of reality completely disagrees with another person's.

EDIT:
I should also talk about how this plays into the human psyche, humans are tribalistic by nature, we tend to group up with people that we share traits with, whether that be race, gender, political alignment, or interest. Machine algorithms are more than likely exploiting this aspect of the human psyche.

Originally Posted by secondpassing

Is it all that strange? I'm just saying to be aware that Google will show you different results based on your search patterns.
I'm not sure how familiar you are with machine learning, but Google uses it to determine what to show you. It takes a test set (your search history) and creates a heuristic (a guess) into actual associations of what you would click on. Depending on where you click after it has made its guess, the algorithm revises its next heuristic to better match what it thinks you want.

So yes, Google search results are biased based on your search history.

This plays into a growing problem with social media in particular, we often put ourselves into these "info-bubbles" where we isolate ourselves from information that we dislike, and based on these algorithms (in Facebook in particular) you're shown content you're more likely to "like" and less likely to dislike. People tend to "like" content they agree with, thus Facebook shows you almost exclusively information that you agree with. This creates a sort of positive feedback loop, to the point where some people's perception of reality completely disagrees with another person's.

EDIT:
I should also talk about how this plays into the human psyche, humans are tribalistic by nature, we tend to group up with people that we share traits with, whether that be race, gender, political alignment, or interest. Machine algorithms are more than likely exploiting this aspect of the human psyche.