The real issues with "human" anything... speed and bias

As I have thought about human search over the past days, for me it boils down to two main factors as to why it won't be able to compete with a machine. I thought it might be beneficial to share the reasons and what the feedback is like. I will use the latest released human search, Mahalo, in my examples.

Reason #1 - Speed

The simple truth is that a human cannot do something as fast as a computer. We may be able to do "something" better than a machine, but certainly not as a fast. I just read an article about the NYSE and how more and more of the traders on the floor have been fired. Why? Because while they believe that they can get a better deal for their customers, the machines just process the information quicker. And in today's stock market, quicker is better.

Let's look at the topic from the human search POV using the latest human search engine Mahalo. I checked Google's hot trends page for June 1 as checking today provides little on Mahalo as the humans have not caught up with it yet. I picked Katherine Heigl from the list as she had a page on Mahalo. Here is her page on Google Hot Trends and on Mahalo.

The Mahalo page is a directory for links about KH not something that will share current news. The Google page is actually very well crafted allowing the viewer to see what's hot with Katherine across the web from blogs, to news, etc. And just like on Mahalo, you can discuss the actress on Google Groups.

Now to be fair, Mahalo did create a page quickly when the NYC JFK terrorist scare was in the news last week. But how quickly can they do this worldwide? Will Jason be able to afford paying people to sit at a terminal looking for the hot topic and continuously updating it the same way Google, Technorati, etc do?

When I post content on Cn, it immediately is available via a search on Technorati. Is it like that with any human search? Even if I post something in the "top 10k" terms, will it be there? I doubt it.

Competing with Google, Yahoo, Ask and the others on speed won't work.

Reason #2 - Bias

This is a big issue to me. When Jason sits in an interview and says that Mahalo will index the "Top 10,000 searches" that is a fib. What he means to say is, "We will create pages for the Top 10,000 searches, anything else we feel like it and our friends."

This is not just with Mahalo but with anything that is 1-many from a human standpoint. When I ask a friend what is the best flavor of ice cream at Carvel, I expect bias. But I don't expect it from a search service. I expect everyone to be on a level playing field.

I think eventually bias might hurt Jason's site if it gets larger in popularity. How does one determine who gets a page. Will people claim issues of race, ethnic, religion etc? How does someone who runs a human-powered site protect against these type of issues?

Let me illustrate an example: Check the technology page on Mahalo. Look at the names that are there that you can clearly say are outside of the top 10k searches. People such as: C.K. Sample III, Om Malik, Nick Denton, Jason Calacanis, Doc Searls, Jeff Jarvis. Are these people really in the top 10k? No. I doubt it. But they have a page. Why? Because they are in the "know"? So what does a site such as CenterNetworks do to get a page? There is no way to request a page be created. And since I am not friends with Jason, the odds of ever having a page is unlikely.

If Jason asked me for my suggestion, it would be simple. Stick to the Top 10k searches and nothing more. If your name is not in there, don't create a page. Otherwise eventually you will be called out for playing favorites which will make a huge dent in your credibility.

Machines don't have bias (unless they are programmed to). Everyone has an equal chance of making it to the top.

Please note that while I discuss Mahalo in the examples above, there are other human search engines as well. I applaud Jason's efforts in promoting the heck out of Mahalo.