AndreaGail
4th October 2010, 08:24 AM
http://rt.com/Top_News/2010-10-04/future-forecast-engine-internet.html
Future forecast engine peers into crystal ball of Internet
permalinke-mail story to a friendprint versionPublished 04 October, 2010, 15:23
If you are into stories about how new technology is dragging us towards an Orwellian future, you have one more thing to worry about. A new search engine can predict the future by hearing the buzz on the Internet.
Propeller The software has been in development for 18 months with the financial backing of both Google and the CIA. The Boston-based firm behind it is now offering its services online to government policymakers, business analysts and others, reports MIT Technology Review.
The tool offered by Recorded Future tracks information published online to establish links between people, companies, places and events and put it on a timescale. It munches everything from news articles to Twitter updates and uses linguistic analysis to render its image of the future.
So far the company has a small list of clients, who pay monthly subscription to use the tool. However, a consumer version – which would tell you when Lady Gaga is likely to come up with her next music video – may follow.
“We have proven out that our data can make strong predictions,” says Christopher Ahlberg, Recorded Future's founder. “We found that our momentum metric, which indicates the strength of activity around an event or entity, and our future events correlate with the volume of market activity.”
Are we going straight to something like what the blockbuster movie “Minority Report” shows – police arresting people for crimes they are yet to commit (as predicted by their Facebook pages)? Not likely. The engine basically watches trends and monitors public opinion.
Nonetheless, if the technology gains popularity, companies may beef up their IT departments with search engine optimization staff, who would try to influence such future forecast sites.
Future forecast engine peers into crystal ball of Internet
permalinke-mail story to a friendprint versionPublished 04 October, 2010, 15:23
If you are into stories about how new technology is dragging us towards an Orwellian future, you have one more thing to worry about. A new search engine can predict the future by hearing the buzz on the Internet.
Propeller The software has been in development for 18 months with the financial backing of both Google and the CIA. The Boston-based firm behind it is now offering its services online to government policymakers, business analysts and others, reports MIT Technology Review.
The tool offered by Recorded Future tracks information published online to establish links between people, companies, places and events and put it on a timescale. It munches everything from news articles to Twitter updates and uses linguistic analysis to render its image of the future.
So far the company has a small list of clients, who pay monthly subscription to use the tool. However, a consumer version – which would tell you when Lady Gaga is likely to come up with her next music video – may follow.
“We have proven out that our data can make strong predictions,” says Christopher Ahlberg, Recorded Future's founder. “We found that our momentum metric, which indicates the strength of activity around an event or entity, and our future events correlate with the volume of market activity.”
Are we going straight to something like what the blockbuster movie “Minority Report” shows – police arresting people for crimes they are yet to commit (as predicted by their Facebook pages)? Not likely. The engine basically watches trends and monitors public opinion.
Nonetheless, if the technology gains popularity, companies may beef up their IT departments with search engine optimization staff, who would try to influence such future forecast sites.