Google Schools Its Algorithm

To humans, computer intelligence is a puzzle, as if the machines have split personalities. They can be so remarkably smart at times, yet so bafflingly dumb at others.This riddle of digital deduction has been center stage recently.Just over a week ago, for instance, the Internet search giant Google announced that it was making a major overhaul of its formula for ranking Web sites. The company said it was demoting “low quality” Web sites, designed mainly to lure traffic from Google’s search engine and attract advertising revenue. It was a move to improve the quality of search, but also an admission that Google, the trusted curator of the Web, was being outwitted.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/06/weekinreview/06lohr.html