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Is it just me, or is this an incredible prediction for 1994?

> Smart searches. The first intelligent agent software packages will emerge, allowing Net users to ask for a specific piece of information like "What is the population of Fiji?" or "How far is Saturn from the Sun?" An agent will go out on the Net , find the information, and return it without the user knowing the source.

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"Smart Agents" that will do their owners' bidding where all the rage then. The idea was you'd have this autonomous software robots that would go around searching for information (or do whatever else) you needed on the internet.

In terms of technical description, they were closer to today's web3 smart contracts than how Google works.

In the end, nothing came of all that hype tho. Turns out it was easier to build Google :-)

The "without the user knowing the source" is an interesting part. Given some popular movements in North America right now you could have ended up with interesting answers for "Who won the 2024 election?", "Is JFK Jr alive?" or "Who is the Head of State in Canada", with a very authoritative-looking Google stamp of approval on it.

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