After rebirth, I became a great master

Chapter 298 Democratization of Technology

Zhou Haoran spent $1200 to buy an HP laptop.

He's busy!
During this academic exchange in the United States, in addition to the two papers he has already published, he also brought seven papers that he has not yet published. These are all world-class, valuable papers that can greatly promote the development of the industry.

These papers certainly stirred up a small wave of interest.

Not only several professors from Stanford University, but also several authoritative professors from nearby Berkeley University and the University of California campus heard about it and took the initiative to come to Stanford University, wanting to hold an academic seminar with Zhou Haoran.

Because most of Zhou Haoran's papers revolve around the Internet, the professors and scholars who participated in the discussions were also mainly from the Internet field.

In academic discussions surrounding the internet, one topic is crucial.

How can we better disseminate information through the internet?
There is so much information on the internet now.

How can we best connect information with users? How can we enable users to find the information they need through the internet?

In today's internet industry, the primary means of communication is email.

It's like someone needs an article or paper, so they email the relevant person. After a few days, the other party will reply and provide some answers.

There's no such thing as spam these days.

Writing emails is even more formal than writing letters.

If you write to the president of Microsoft, he is unlikely to reply; but if you find the president's email address and send him an email, he will most likely reply.

But this method of relying on email to complete information transmission is too primitive.

This is essentially digitizing letter writing.

It's still traditional thinking.

How can we use internet thinking to make this happen?

There are three main answers within the industry.

One is a portal website, like Yahoo!

Yahoo has compiled the information; you can find it there.

One is an instant messaging product, like ICQ.

You can chat online.

Another one is search.

Just like Lycos.

Users can simply use search engines to find the information they want.

Which of the three answers is the optimal solution?

Instant messaging is the worst; it's like a game.

Portal websites are also less than satisfactory.

Because portal websites are platform-centric, users see whatever information the platform provides.

Only the search results are different.

This is user-centric!

Users can find the information they want by searching the internet using a search engine. It truly delivers on the promise of providing users with exactly what they desire.

However, search technology is too difficult!
None of the search products on the market are good; the search results are messy and of extremely poor quality, which greatly diminishes the status of search products in the internet industry.

The actual implementation effect is far less than that of portal websites.

However, from an academic perspective, search is more in line with the spirit of the Internet.

Therefore, major universities in the United States have internal research projects and several teams researching search technology, striving to create an effective and user-friendly search product.

This is why Zhou Haoran spent a lot of money to buy a laptop in the United States.

He needs to write a thesis!
The seminar on search was held that day, and I went back to write the paper that evening.

We were busy until after 1 a.m.

Hu Xiaochen got up once during this time, put a coat on him, and then went back to bed.

The next morning, Zhou Haoran took his completed paper, met up with Tan Mingliang, and went to Stanford University.

Professor Hops is the department head and has a lot of authority.

I heard they were interested in the search and didn't seem to be holding back their knowledge at all.

“Search is an important area, and at least eight teams at our university are doing research in this area.” Professor Hops then led them to a laboratory. “This is the Excite Lab! Excite search is currently one of the best search projects at Stanford.”

Zhou Haoran stood in awe.

He knew about a product called Excite.

In his previous life, he went to the United States to study in 2000. The first exciting acquisition he heard about was that Excite search was acquired by another company for a staggering $65 billion.

Zhou Haoran had a brief exchange with several PhD students from the Excite lab.

"Good guy, do you have a different opinion on search algorithms?"

Professor Hope noticed that he didn't seem to like the search technology used by Excite.

Zhou Haoran pondered, "After our discussion yesterday, I went back and tried out every search product. They all basically used full-text search strategies, which resulted in very poor search efficiency and low content quality. This kind of algorithmic thinking is too outdated."

Professor Hops couldn't help but chuckle, "Everyone is working hard, looking for a breakthrough opportunity."

"I have a solution."

Zhou Haoran's boastful words would be synonymous with "bragging," "unreliable," and "naive" in China.

It's different in the United States.

Different cultures have different contexts for expression.

This would be seen as a sign of confidence.

"Good man, do you have a solution?"

Professor Hope did not underestimate him.

His name is "Haoran," but he mispronounces it, making it sound like "good person."

Zhou Haoran smiled and said, "Last night when I got back to the hotel, I wrote a very valuable paper that could change the current state of search and even change the development of the Internet industry."

"where?"

Professor Hops took his paper very seriously.

Zhou Haoran took a floppy disk out of his pocket. "It's here."

"go!"

Professor Hops was very interested and went directly to his office.

The paper was complete. Professor Hops quickly glanced through it and couldn't help but laugh, "Good man, the ideas in your paper are very similar to those of a project group at our school!"

"Huh?" Zhou Haoran was surprised. "Really?"

Professor Hops nodded and said slowly, "However, your theory is more comprehensive and profound, and your search algorithm also embodies the macro concept of 'democratizing technology'... Good man, you are an internet philosopher!"

Zhou Haoran smiled and said, "The spirit of the Internet cannot be just empty words. In the design of algorithms and the construction of architecture, we must see things through to the end."

"Ah."

Professor Hops nodded and spent a few more minutes reviewing his paper.

The paper wasn't long, only about 1000 words.

The main focus is on the search concept, rather than the algorithm implementation.

"Why don't you talk to our little team?" Professor Hops asked, further confirming the claim. "Really, your algorithmic ideas are exactly the same. If they see your paper or get your guidance, I believe it will be a huge help to them."

Zhou Haoran laughed and said, "Sure, let's go!"

Tan Mingliang felt it was a pity.

I thought to myself, "This Xiao Zhou is so kind!"
Good things should be kept hidden.

"Are you really going to share your research findings like this?"

While his mentor was making a phone call to someone, Tan Mingliang questioned him with great concern.

Zhou Haoran was very generous, saying, "It's just academic exchange."

Tan Mingliang said reluctantly, "Academic exchange isn't one-sided. All that talk about academic exchange is a sham; it's actually an academic transaction. If it were truly academic exchange, why is no one in China qualified to join the circle and exchange ideas with them? This is a transaction; you can't just give away all your capital for free!"

Zhou Haoran said dismissively, "What era are we living in? We can't use Li Hongzhang's foreign policy thinking anymore. Treating foreigners like fools will only lead to our own losses. We should learn more from Zeng Guofan; sincerity is the ultimate weapon."

"You!"

Tan Mingliang was disappointed in the boy, feeling that he was too immature and that he would have to have a good talk with the old dean when he returned to the school.

Meanwhile, Professor Hopes had already made the arrangements.

He is another Professor Andrew in the department.

That project was being done by several of his graduate students, who applied for $2.2 in research funding.

The project is called "BackRub".

As the name suggests, this is a search project guided by the theory of "backlinks".

It's very similar to Zhou Haoran's search strategy!

Most current search algorithms are full-text search.

The search platform needs to retrieve all web pages.

The most important thing is here.

How do I rank web pages?
In theory, the most relevant web pages that best meet user needs should definitely be listed first.

This is the biggest technical challenge.

How do we determine if a webpage best meets the user's needs?
It is arranged by the number of keywords.

The more keywords appear on a webpage, the higher its ranking will be.

For example, searching for "travel".

On one webpage, the word "tourism" appeared 100 times after a full-text search; on another webpage, the keyword "tourism" appeared 101 times.

Therefore, the latter will rank higher.

The webpage with the most keywords will rank first on the first page of search results!
This method is simple and crude.

The drawbacks are obvious.

It requires crawling all web pages and retrieving all content... This requires too much computing power, which puts too much pressure on the server and makes the search speed too slow.

Another point is that the content is not accurate enough.

Who says that the more keywords appear, the better the content?

A truly good article might not contain the word "travel" at all, but it's filled with details about travel. However, due to algorithmic limitations and a lack of keywords, it may not be found by users.

Zhou Haoran's search ideas are very much in line with his proposal for "democratizing technology" that he has been expressing in recent exchanges.

A voting system was used.

The website that receives the most votes will rank higher!
The voting strategy is backlinks.

A webpage containing travel information may link to another webpage; another webpage containing travel information may also link to the same webpage...

This hyperlink is for voting!

If 100 travel-related web pages all link to the same travel homepage.

That means the travel homepage has received approval from 100 webpages and has received 100 votes!
If a travel webpage is linked to and associated with numerous other travel-related webpages, it fully demonstrates that the travel webpage has gained recognition from industry peers!
Extremely valuable!
This is the voting system.

The system uses voting to rank all webpage content, prioritizing it based on the number of votes received, and then recommending it to users.

The quality of the content has been greatly improved.

Replacing full-text search with hyperlink search significantly reduces the computing power required, thus greatly improving search speed.

This can be said to fully embody the grand concept of "technological democratization" in the internet.

Coincidentally, there are also graduate students at Stanford University who are conducting similar research.

Tan Mingliang sighed deeply.

They felt they were being taken advantage of.

Zhou Haoran, however, was in high spirits and followed the two professors to the “BackRub” project laboratory.

This project team consists of only four researchers.

Two PhDs and two Master's degree holders.

Zhou Haoran was concerned about the two PhDs.

"Hello, my name is Larry, Larry Page."

“Mr. Zhou, I attended your symposium the day before yesterday, and it was truly inspiring! Your concept of ‘democratizing science and technology’ is excellent. I am Sergei, Sergei Brin, and it’s a pleasure to meet you.”

Looking at the two disheveled young men in front of him.

Zhou Haoran breathed a sigh of relief.

That's all set!

We've found the right person!
That's right, it's the two of them!
(End of this chapter)