A Pronouncement: Dr. Berkan

On Read/WriteWeb, Dr. Berkan, CEO of Haika makes up and answers a few common questions about semantic search, among which are …

Q. There were previous failed attempts of natural language search engines. Why would this work now?

A. Natural Language is a wide term that includes all sorts of things. Previous attempts have failed mostly because they were not done properly, and methods used were not based on proper semantic principles. Some of them were merely statistical methods very similar to the conventional search engines. Others were behavior tracking AI applications. And some relied on human labor to keep up with question answering. There are so many ways of doing it improperly, and only one way of doing it right. (Emphasis mine)

In other words “My way, the only true way.” Is he so narrowly focused that he can’t even imagine that there might be something new that hasn’t been thought of yet? I hope whatever he’s got isn’t contagious.

Howard Moskowitz causes both happiness and unhappiness?

Here’s links to two TEDtalks, both interesting and worth listening to on their own but the seeming contrast is stunning. Each is about 20 minutes.

First Barry Schwartz, the author of The Paradox of Choice describes how we feel when we have too many choices.

And then Malcolm Gladwell, the author of Blink and The Tipping Point, talks of Howard Moskowitz and how he made spaghetti sauce better.

So. Should we ship spaghetti sauce to third world countries?

Moving on

After ten years, I’ve resigned my position with MWA Intelligence (formerly EFI, and even earlier ADS Communications). I had considered the change for quite a while but once the decision was made it was a relief. Although I’ve blogged before, now seemed like a good time to start again.