What a paranoid post. Google "manipulates" results for financial gain? The assumption that there is a pure solution to a search query is ignorant of search and information retrieval, which fundamentally rely on human-curated content.
PageRank also relied on "Human-curated content". In fact, anything having to do with natural language processing does so in some way.
This is a far cry from saying that Google is hand-tuning search results. In fact, Google has only begun to do so recently as a response to government-orders to hide terms relating to media piracy or Chinese politics. This post displays a lot of romantic confusion about the effects of social media on web search.
Google must believe that the barrier to entry is now (only) brand awareness, rather than product (search) quality. Let's see whether that remains true forever.
PageRank also relied on "Human-curated content". In fact, anything having to do with natural language processing does so in some way.
This is a far cry from saying that Google is hand-tuning search results. In fact, Google has only begun to do so recently as a response to government-orders to hide terms relating to media piracy or Chinese politics. This post displays a lot of romantic confusion about the effects of social media on web search.