Similar, but different
When I search for a similar image to the one above, Google serves me a horse.
Any idea why?
In my garden there is a bird that sings only at night and when I go out to observe it the singing stops till I am back inside. Imagine I could upload a sound file to Google and be told what bird it is! Click here to hear its song. Do you know what bird it is? By the way, my garden is in Rayong, Thailand.
January 11th, 2010 at 9:35 pm
The differences we see are I think mostly due to knowledge and prejudices we had before we opened this page. Both images show a principal subject in dead center with a green background. If you squint until both become blurry and abstract, they are very similar.
I have no idea where you would turn to identify that animal in your garden. It sounds neat… I’m leaning towards a frog. Do you hear it in all types of weather? Mostly when it’s damp? All times of the year?
January 11th, 2010 at 10:28 pm
Thank you for your attempt to equate a bird with a horse.
My theory is more prosaic. If you move the mouse over the horse you see the image is called cardinal3, and I guess that’s the name of the horse. If the bird is a cardinal they are indeed similar, in name at least.
I thought about the possibility of a frog too. The rainy season is officially over, but we had some unexpected rain a few days ago. If the sound maker doesn’t go away till the rain comes back again in April it is a frog that likes dry land.
Imagine if Google let’s you search for other things than text. Example: upload your photo to find people on the Internet who looks like you, or upload a song whose title is at the tip of your tongue …
Many believe math is the study of patterns. When will Google offer more advanced pattern recognition?