Search Needs a Human Solution: A Manifesto
When was the last time you felt genuine discovery on the internet?
Not algorithmic recommendations. Not SEO-optimized listicles.
I mean real, surprising, meaningful discovery.
Search is broken but not in the way tech companies think.
We don't need better algorithms or bigger indexes.
We don't need more compute or scale.
We need something radically simple...
We Need Human curation at human scale
The future of search isn't about building bigger. It's about building smaller.
Intentionally smaller.
Think about your most valuable discoveries online. They likely came through people - experts, enthusiasts, obsessives who curate their corner of the internet with painstaking care. Like that obscure film blog that never misses. The crypto analyst who called every major trend (lol, right). That one friend who always has a new band or song queued up.
These curators already exist. They're building audiences on social media, creating newsletters, running Discord servers. But they're trapped in a system designed for algorithms, not expertise. Their signal drowns in an ocean of SEO-optimized noise.
The Great Algorithm Chase
We've built a perverse system where experts have to trick algorithms to reach people seeking their expertise. Writers optimize for machines, not readers. Researchers contort their knowledge to please the search gods. Creators chase algorithmic ghosts instead of serving their communities.
How ironic that the algorithms were supposed to help us find expertise. Instead, they've forced expertise to hide itself in algorithmic camouflage.
The great algorithm chase has exhausted everyone. Experts are tired of dancing for the machines. Readers are tired of wading through SEO swamps to find real insight. We're all tired of watching knowledge get dressed up in algorithmic costumes just to be seen.
What's wild is that we've accepted this as normal. We've normalized the idea that expertise should contort itself to please machines. That curators should defer to crawlers. That human judgment should bow to PageRank.
It's time to flip the script
The future of search isn't about building better algorithms to find needles in haystacks. It's about having fewer, better haystacks - each one carefully tended by someone who knows their needles.
Forget finding needles in haystacks. What if you could just follow the needle collectors?
Imagine a world of curated spaces, each one a carefully assembled collection of the best thinking in its field. Not millions of pages of SEO filler, but hundreds of essential pieces chosen with purpose and expertise.
Think smaller. Think sharper.
- A music nerd’s personal search engine, built from years of crate-digging and listening parties
- A master programmer's hand-picked collection of fundamental papers and discussions
- A medical researcher's curated library of breakthrough studies and methodologies
Each space proudly wearing its curator's perspective like a badge of honor. No false neutrality. No algorithm worship. Just expertise, judgment, and the courage to say 'this matters, this doesn't.'
This isn't information overload. This is information intention.
Embracing Bias as a Feature
Information intention means embracing bias as a compass, not hiding it as a flaw.
Think about who you trust for recommendations in real life. Do you trust them because they're 'unbiased'? No. You trust them because you understand their biases. You know their taste, their standards, their blind spots. Their bias is their value proposition.
The same should be true for search.
- A libertarian's curation of economic theory
- An environmentalist's collection of energy research
- A philosopher's assembly of AI ethics papers
Each space becomes valuable not despite its perspective, but because of it. Critical thinking emerges not from pretending to neutrality, but from navigating between declared positions with open eyes.
This is how we already build understanding in the real world. We don't seek a mythical unbiased source - we triangulate between known perspectives. We build nuanced views by understanding different expert takes, not by averaging them into bland neutrality.
The Path Forward
This isn't just about building better search. It's about sparking an evolution in how we discover, process, and build upon human knowledge.
The future is not bigger indexes or smarter algorithms.
Rather, the future is human-scale curation, intentional bias, and the courage to say less is more.
The tools for this transformation already exist.
The experts are already here.
The communities are ready.
All we need to do is stop forcing human expertise to play algorithmic games.
All we need to do is start building spaces worthy of human attention.
The question isn't whether this shift will happen.
The question is: which spaces will you curate?
If you liked this then please consider connecting or following me. I am building FireAnt, a suite of tools and platform that enables normal people to curate and run their own search engines.