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Comment by pixcavator | Hacker News Reader

Google was successful then with PageRank, but maybe now they need something better? It is my personal opinion but building something as huge (now) as Google search on such a shaky foundation as PageRank is dangerous.

I don’t think physical constants are made up and they certainly aren’t hidden.

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PageRank is one of more than 200 metrics Google uses in its search engine. Your presumption that it is the foundation, or even the most important metric, is unwarranted.

Initially it was the foundation and currently let’s just admit that neither of us knows.

Well, generally how search works now was actually one of the first things I learned when I started working for Google, but my point was that you don't know and are just making things up.

Ok maybe you do know. However, it's odd that you bring up that you work at Google and then add nothing new to the discussion (everybody knows about the 200 metrics). How about: "You're wrong, PageRank has never been the foundation of Google search"?

I never said PageRank has never been the foundation of Google search or that PageRank isn't a part of search, just that there are other parts that you are not taking into account.

As to why I'm not saying exactly how Google search works -- I'm obviously under confidentiality agreements to not disclose that information.

It's not that physical constants are made up or hidden, it's that we know most of them with very limited precision, because they are determined via experiment.

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