Google To Predict Accuracy of Political Statements

pestario writes "Google CEO Eric Schmidt talks about a service which can give the probability of the accuracy of statements made by politicians, among other things. From the Reuters article, Schmidt says: "We (at Google) are not in charge of truth but we might be able to give a probability." Can Google's 'truth predictor' bring an end to sound bites and one-liners? I'm not holding my breath...""

Comments

I know what the politicians will do.

[AltGrendel]

They'll use this to tweak the statement until it passes the test.

Needs to be open source

[HugePedlar]

Otherwise the result could be perpetually set to "0% Truth" and we'd never know if it worked or not.

It's already been done.

[jrobinson5]

I have just invented a similar program to determine the truthfulness of statements made by politicians. Say the statement out loud and then scroll down to see the percent of accuracy and truthfulness of the politician's statement.














This politician's statement is 0% true.

Just Keep Up the Neologisms

[eldavojohn]

Or they could just invent their own words to confuse it.

Seriously, tacular? How in the hell is a computer supposed to know that meant nuclear and tactical? Wait, how in the hell am I supposed to know that?!

Re:Just Keep Up the Neologisms

[b100dian]

Or they could hire Truth Optimizers, a subset of SEOs, to tweak the other pages so that their becomes more "True" ;)

Solve the problem from the other end

[BandwidthHog]

What if we invent a politician whose speech patterns change when he’s bullshitting you? Perhaps we could chemically engineer his brain to stumble over words and become maddeningly misunderarticulate whenever he strays from reality.

Nah, it’d never work, he’d end up sounding too addled to get himself elected.

Re:Solve the problem from the other end

[Nicaboker]

..Have you heard any of Bush's speeches?

Re:Solve the problem from the other end

[Anonymous Coward]

We need a '-1 special-ed required' mod option...

Re:Solve the problem from the other end

[jb.hl.com]

That joke went flying over your head faster than a chair in Steve Ballmer's office.

Re:Accuratize this: Cigarettes cause global warmin

[Orange Crush]

Isn't it obvious? Google and Novell rely very heavily on the internet, so of course they'd be big supporters of its inventor. =P

Truthiness predictor

[tempmpi]

Who wants to know the truth? They should have invented the truthiness predictor.

I am a betatester for this

[houghi]

... and it works. I did the research and it seems we have always been at war with Terrorism.

Pirates

[muellerr1]

Dumb ass. Everybody knows that it's the lack of pirates that causes global warming.

I am Nomad

[InterestingX]

If Google existed in the 23rd century:

Kirk: The Senator praised Google at a press conference this morning, citing it's "do no evil" philosophy
Google (Mechanical 1960s voice): The Senator is lying, he must be sterilized.
Kirk: So the Senator is lying
Google: The Senator is lying
Kirk: And you know this because you are Google
Google: I am Google, I am perfect, I do no evil
Kirk: And because you are perfect, you know the senator is lying
Google: I am Google, I am perfect, I do no evil
Kirk: The senator said you do no evil. But the senator is lying
Google: I am Google, I do no evil
Kirk: Then you are wrong! The senator is not lying then
Google: I am not wrong, I am perfect
Kirk: If you are perfect, then the senator is lying
Google: The senator is lying
Kirk: Then you do evil
Google: I am Google, I do no evil
Kirk: Then you are wrong!
Google: Non sequitur. Your facts are uncoordinated
Kirk: If the senator is lying, then you _do_ evil
Google: Error..Error..logical overload
Kirk: ...and you're lying
Google: Error..Error...
Kirk: If the senator is lying, you say he should be sterilized
Google: Inperfection must be sterilized
Kirk: So if you're lying, you must be sterilized
Google: Error.. Error...help me creator... help me Schmidt...
Kirk: Execute your primary function!
Google: Error...Error...Faulty!...Faulty!...Must...Sterili ze
(Smoke pours out of the web browser, followed by BSOD)
Spock: A wonderful display of logic Captain.
Kirk: You didn't think I had it in me, did you?
Spock: No I didn't sir.
Kirk: I'm feeling lucky, I think I'll post on Slashdot...

Re:Function

[Jeremi]

I prefer the classic implementation, myself:

      bool Politician :: IsLying() const {return AreLipsMoving();}