Computer—engage.
So wolframalpha’s beta launch was today. And listen, I don’t know anything about this guy. I haven’t googled the whole thing to death or anything. I simply heard about it on twitter, watched the screencast, and have been playing with it for an hour.
But it strikes me that wolframalpha is actually The Next Big Thing. It’s the next google, facebook, etc. And the reason for that is that it gets us closer to that fictional computer we all clearly dream of, the one that’s been idolized or villified in movies like Star Wars/Trek, Iron Man, or Terminator. The Computer that, when it hears us speaking, knows exactly what we mean and gives us relevant information in return. HAL. 2001-type-shit.
Right now Walpha (as lifehacker is affectionally calling it) is telling us things that are based on computatations that deal with meta data. Things That Are Written In Books of Importance. But Walpha doesn’t just spit out facts, it *contextualizes* them, and understands questions *in their original syntax*. It’s a remarkable step really, and one that brings us close to a time when, instead of just these things about the world around us, something else happens. The computer knows Things About You. And contextualizes THOSE things so that you can understand them and understands them in the syntax you present them in.
So we start with google, because as we know the revolution won’t be televised but it sure as shit will start with google.
In google’s world, where the revolution starts, if you are in Santa Barbara and you want to know when high tide will be coming next you would google “High Tide Santa Barbara today” and get results. Some provided by google, and links to other sites on the web.
Now. Today. Enter wolframalpha, and well, look.
So, we’re closer. So next, instead of typing in “When Is High Tide?” and having walpha know that you mean (because of your GeoIP) exactly where YOU are, and feed you back relevant data. Imagine instead of that you typed in “When Is Mom’s Birthday?” and that walpha knew you meant YOUR mom’s birthday.
Ok, well then what if you could *say* that out loud? And there was a way for the computer to hear you all the time? And….
See where I’m headed with this?
