Google's Filters Are A Trap

There was a time, in the mists of history, back before the age of Twitter, when you could tell someone, “it's the third link on Google”. But now, thanks to Google's well intentioned filters, this is no longer possible. With fifty-seven filtering elements, Google gives you what they (often very accurately) believe you are looking for.
    If, upon searching for “best price for shoes”, you click on an Amazon link, Google remembers this, and the next time you search for something, Amazon raises in your search results, which obviously, makes you more likely to click there. In many situations, this is exactly what you want. A search engine that knows you so well that eventually, you'll never need to look past the first page of results to find the site that you think you need.
    One problem with all of this exists, and it's a big one. The internet is unimaginably vast, with such a massive quantity of information, you could easily waste your life trying to find that one thing. While Google's filters make it easier to find what you think you want, it eventually may make it impossible to find what you truly want.
    Humans are multifaceted beings, from the brilliant to the dense, we all want to be more than what we are, and when we use a search engine, we hope that what we see at the top of the results are the very best and most useful sites our search resulted. But if you're looking to expand your knowledge of Ancient Greece by searching for “Socrates”, your search history may lead you to quotations from Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, rather than The Stanford Encyclopedia Of Philosophy.
    While these filters can trap us in our momentary diversions, they can also become our best assistance in navigating the oceans of knowledge out there. If you're looking for information on pizza places, these filters will cleverly show you a phone number for a place that (odds are) you'll quite enjoy.
    But, if the idea of being trapped by your search history concerns you, there is unfortunately no way to escape them completely. Even buying a new computer will not eliminate them all, since your IP address range is one of the filters, and that is supplied by your Internet Service Provider. You could switch ISPs, but even then, your geographic location is still another filtering element. You could dial-up and connect with an ISP in Portugal or South Korea, but your computer's language is again, one more filtering element.
    If there is an escape from this, it will not come from Google themselves. These filters aren't just for us users, it's also for Google's advertisers, who rely on these clever filters to get their advertisements to their ideal customers. If we, the internet wish to broaden or enhance our search results, perhaps forcing the results to be more of what we need than what we want, we need to do it ourselves. We must consider the consequences of our internet behaviour on our future (more enlightened) desires.
    Or perhaps, someone will come to our aid. A good idea might be a kind of Google Portal, designed by a third party to filter out the silly or stupid links that we are inclined to click, and present us with literate and intellectually challenging results. Or, failing that, maybe we could hire the smartest and most interesting person we know to use our computer for a few days to “smarten-up” Google's helpful little filters.