Something really wonderful happened a few days before the inauguration. Immediately following Joe Biden’s use of the term oligarchy in his final address, google searches for the definition of the word oligarchy spiked — becoming a trending search term for the first time since 2004, when they started making that data public. Rather than choosing a cynical reaction, I actually see this as such a positive, redeeming signal. Evidence that people still want to understand things, especially things they didn’t know about before.

Truth is simply the best basis from which we can, and must, continue to ask: why? Why are things this way, and what can we do, build, examine, and discover to change, evolve, improve, or further understand about it. Truth, in the most objective or at least broadly intersubjective sense, is born out of data, opinion-less information recorded from empirical measurement and primary source observation. The internet is an immense compilation of databases and data sources with communicating webs built on top. Indeed, the first iteration Tim Berners-Lee’s World Wide Web was a uniform system for locating and retrieving information from diverse, curated databases.

The information superhighway it most certainly is. Part of the challenge is the superhighway has grown to be a criss-crossing mega-maze of available avenues to travel that individual navigation can be daunting. No human is reaching the end of the internet at this point. Another, more palpable development hurdle is the established economic model underlying much of the user experienced internet, digital display advertising. Maximizing performance in this model has meant that software algorithms that decide our news feed are programmed to prioritize user attention to optimize for engagement, which means optimizing for outrage, anger and awe.

These are undeniably engaging emotions. They are also exhausting and, as can sometimes be the case, can depend on obscuring truth, which may be more mundane, expected, frustrating, embarrassing or even just a buzzkill. But shock emotions aren’t the only ones that elicit sustained engagement. Learning, truth seeking, does too. Ask anyone who’s enjoyed a fascinating journey through wikipedia rabbit holes for hours or anyone who’s pursued an advanced degree, or written a thesis, or dissertation, or high school U.S. history term paper. Learning stuff is extremely engaging. Sharing discoveries and the shared experience of new things are bedrocks of social networks.

In his new book Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI, Yuval Harari argues that in the societal balance between truth and order, necessary elements of functionally open and transparent progress are self-correcting mechanisms. In the absence of existing powers that be having any interest in adjusting their powerfully profitable algorithms, where could technology provide if not self-correcting, a correcting mechanism option? A host of services which on the surface could rhyme with truth seeking emerged in startupland the wake of the 2016 election, positioned as tools to fight disinformation online. Many relied on user-installed browser extensions and human fact-checking. A long list of them is here, many no longer exist or pivoted towards reputation management for existing entities online. Human bias and the associated cost of human fact checking likely make mechanical turk models ineffective. It’s also probably a bridge to far to ask users to install browser extensions to solve for missed truths that may be subconscious or at least not as obvious as oligarchy? in and amongst the raging news feed.

We are though at a fascinating, potent moment regarding the original access point for the internet — the browser. This to me is where either through feature set or entire standalone product design, truth via data could become a UX/UI reality. There are several prominent startups building transformative, groundbreaking web browsers. Many of the most dominant internet browsers already contain automatic product features that aim to give us the most engaging and transparent manifestation of each page we click to load. The wayback machine preserves the historical record of any address, google translate resolves foreign language pages instantly, cookies connect the user dots and pinpoint user location in relation to the specifics of a site or page. Many of the most widely integrated and mass adopted AI models and agents are already doing objective data search across unrelated sources and complex analysis at the top of search engine results to give users the answer they were looking for without having to click another link. The database infrastructure and emergent AI application power are clear and present and could combine to passively scan the articles, posts, comments, tweets, headlines, and breaking news we consume to be available to answer in-scroll questions like What does this mean? Is this really happening? What’s “x” topic all about? designed in ways that aren’t introducing new friction or distraction to end users.

The truth is out there. In fact, it’s often right there. And when we seek it out, we learn stuff, like what even is an oligarchy? Sometimes, we just need a technology-enabled nudge to be aware of our blind spots and fill them in with fascinating new knowledge along the information superhighway towards the truth.

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note: the banner image used is from the short-lived, excellent and hilarious series Truth Seekers on amazon prime video.