Using AI for better searches.
Google sucks. Try something better.
This will be probably be a short post and will be much less technical than the previous ones. If you’re like me and many others, you’ve probably used google basically all your life and it’s tough to let go, but you know that it’s not nearly as useful as it used to be.
I sometimes have the thought that I’m not as good at figuring out technical things than I was as a much younger person. I think I’ve realized though that I used to be really good at using google to find things, and the internet had the answer for everything somewhere. At some point google lost that ability to actually provide useful thoughts, and I lost that extension of my mind without really realizing it.
I’m sure there’s plenty of people who have really strong google-fu, can use all of the special hacks and get much more use out of it than I do, but I just never bothered learning those for some reason.
Lately I have been using a new AI (particularly Large Language Model) powered search engine called perplexity.ai. It first does a web search in the more traditional sense (although probably with a more useful index and results than google at this point). Where the magic happens is the second step, where it automatically ingests the text of the results into a LLM, and uses some prompt to provide a useful summary from this info that satisfies your query.
You can do what I would say would take an hour’s worth of research of actually going into each of these links, trying to gauge if they are actually useful, and absorbing their info before you could ever try to summarize the overall findings.
Now whether this actually provides useful, correct answers, I can’t say for certainty yet, but I still think the answers it provides seem pretty impressive, and make me feel like I’ve potentially regained that extension of my mind for the first time in a long time.
People used to joke or imagine what it would be like to have google in your head when I was growing up. I’m not sure if the joke just got old, or if the idea actually just no longer became appealing.
Here is an example of a recent search result, while I was trying to understand more about basic nutrition from as scientific of a standpoint as possible:
What are the main functions of the three macronutrients in the body?
The three main macronutrients in the body are proteins, fats, and carbohydrates. Each of these macronutrients plays a vital role in maintaining the body's overall health and function.
1. Proteins: Proteins are essential for building and repairing body tissues, including muscles, skin, and organs. They also play a crucial role in maintaining proper fluid and acid-base balance, acting as enzymes and hormones, enabling nutrient transport, making antibodies, and supporting wound healing and tissue regeneration[1]. In addition, proteins can provide energy when carbohydrate and fat intake is inadequate.
2. Fats: Fats, also known as lipids, serve several important functions in the body. They store energy, insulate and protect vital organs, and help proteins perform their jobs[2]. Fats also play a role in hormone production and regulation, and they help the body absorb fat-soluble vitamins. Triglycerides, the main type of fat consumed in the diet, are particularly suited for energy storage, as they pack more than twice as much energy as carbohydrates or proteins[2].
3. Carbohydrates: Carbohydrates are the body's primary source of energy. They help control blood glucose and insulin metabolism, participate in cholesterol and triglyceride metabolism, and aid in fermentation[3]. During digestion, carbohydrates are broken down into glucose, which is used as fuel by the body's cells, tissues, and organs[4]. Carbohydrates also play a role in preserving muscle mass during periods of fasting or very low-carb diets[4].
In summary, proteins are essential for building and repairing body tissues, maintaining fluid balance, and supporting various other functions. Fats store energy, insulate and protect organs, and help regulate hormones. Carbohydrates primarily provide energy and help control blood glucose levels. Each of these macronutrients plays a crucial role in maintaining the body's overall health and function.
Citations:
[1] https://med.libretexts.org/Courses/Metropolitan_State_University_of_Denver/Introduction_to_Nutrition_(Diker)/06%3A_Proteins/6.05%3A_Proteins_Functions_in_the_Body
[2] https://nigms.nih.gov/education/Inside-Life-Science/Pages/What-Do-Fats-Do-in-the-Body.aspx
[3] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29083823/
[4] https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/carbohydrate-functions
By Perplexity at https://www.perplexity.ai/search/365dd2d0-af7c-4f96-81f0-58047e26e315
How long do these macronutrients take to be digested and usable for their purposes?
Macronutrients, such as fats, carbohydrates, and proteins, have different digestion times and rates at which they become usable for their purposes. Here's a breakdown of how long each macronutrient takes to be digested:
1. Fats: Fat digestion begins in the mouth and continues in the stomach, where about 30% of fats are converted into diglycerides and fatty acids within 2-4 hours after eating[1]. However, it takes about 40 hours for fats to be fully digested in the body, with digestion time varying between men and women and depending on the type of fats consumed[2].
2. Carbohydrates: The digestion time for carbohydrates varies depending on their type. Complex carbohydrates with a low to moderate glycemic index take more time to digest, providing a steady source of energy over several hours. Your digestive system can start extracting small amounts of energy within 15 to 30 minutes of eating low glycemic complex carbs, but digestion will occur over a longer period compared to high glycemic complex carbs[3]. In general, carbohydrate digestion time ranges from two to five hours or longer[4].
3. Proteins: Protein digestion rates also vary depending on the type of protein. Fast proteins are digested within 1-2 hours, making them quickly available for muscle protein synthesis and other purposes[5]. Medium digesting proteins take around 3 to 3.5 hours to be absorbed, while slow digesting proteins take closer to 4 hours to digest[6]. Whey protein, for example, is a fast-digesting protein that is absorbed and digested rapidly[7].
In summary, fats take the longest time to digest (around 40 hours), followed by carbohydrates (2-5 hours or longer), and proteins (1-4 hours, depending on the type). Keep in mind that these times may vary depending on individual factors, such as age, gender, and overall health.
Citations:
[1] https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/fat-digestion
[2] https://www.healthline.com/health/fat-digestion
[3] https://healthyeating.sfgate.com/long-complex-carbs-digest-1819.html
[4] https://www.livestrong.com/article/458587-how-long-do-complex-carbs-take-to-digest/
[5] https://vidafuel.com/blogs/nutrition-wellness/fast-and-slow-proteins
[6] https://reflexnutrition.com/blogs/community/fast-and-slow-proteins-choose-wisely-for-maximum-results
[7] https://www.gainful.com/blog/protein-absorption-rate-chart/
By Perplexity at https://www.perplexity.ai/search/3542ebcd-1fba-4b1e-897c-ab860e9b6e55