In relation to the class discussion of analyzing how people use the internet, and in what ways they do it, I remembered hearing about this program – Web bot -- that was developed anonymously in the early 90’s. After doing a brief online research, this is what I discovered:
The Web Bot Project was developed in or around 1995, anonymously, to predict the up and downs of the stock market. Similar to how Google search engine works by “indexing” the web, Web Bot crawls through the web looking for trends for keywords that people type into the internet world. Based off of these trends it is said that Web Bot can predict major events – such as 9/11. I know instantly this sounds ridiculous, however, Professor Dick Bierman ran an experiment, with volunteers, showing them a series of pictures. Surprisingly, the volunteers tended to react seconds before the picture was shown. Is it possible that the bigger the event the more time reaction people have before the event? Is it possible that people’s words or moods are directly related to possible future events? And is it possible for the Web Bot to detect these trends and ultimately predict the future? Many say no, but some fully believe it’s possible…
If you’re interested in doing your own research here are some links:
Professor Dick Bierman’s Experiment – HERE
Web Bot Project - HERE
~ Tisha B.
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This is a really scary concept... I hope that we either cannot develop such a technology that can predict the future and/or decide as a society that we should not let such a technology evolve.
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