Internet gains are serendipity's loss - CNN.com

Internet algorithms tailor the Web -- but they may be removing randomness "People are not forced to think" as widely, says one expert On the other hand, Internet has opened worlds that didn't exist before The flaws are not necessarily in our machines, but in ourselves "People are not forced to think" as widely, says one expert On the other hand, Internet has opened worlds that didn't exist before "I'd say about 95% of the time Amazon suggests a book to me, it's one I already have," he says. This is not due to a lack of interest on the part of Haufe, a professor at Case Western University who specializes in the history and philosophy of science. But Amazon's vaunted algorithm, embodied in the recommendations page of "Your Amazon.com" and the "customers who bought this item also bought" line on each product page, doesn't cast a net wide enough for Haufe's consideration. In that, he sees a bigger concern. Our reliance on computer algorithms, he observes, may be narrowing our choices. "We're losing something vital to the production of knowledge," he says.