Роздуми

Цей допис відкриває чернетки роботи над книгою про пошук. Викладатиму сюди робочий матеріал (в чорну написані глави), може кому буде цікаво. Коли завершу роботу, все це буде сховано, а в книга продаватиметься окремо.

Книга пишеться одразу англійською, український переклад, можливо, буде пізніше, якщо буде сенс та потреба. Поки що їх не спостерігаю - "умерла так умерла" (с) анекдот.


When you look for your car or house keys, you generally know that you are performing a search. But how exactly do you search for a lost key? Have you considered different ways to conduct the look-up? I am sure you have, but every time the key is lost, you still get anxious. And it’s no wonder, as keys are rarely needed when you comfortably reside on the couch and are in no hurry. However, by using some methodology, the anxiety can be greatly reduced.

The above example is a canonical illustration of referring to a search (and for a reason). Yet, a plethora of activities of living creatures, including humans, constitutes a search without us realizing this plain fact. An amoeba, while crawling around, also performs a search, this time for food. Similarly, as fungi extend their mycelium, they embark on a quest to identify optimal directions for growth, maximizing resource acquisition. Or, consider an industrious squirrel, diligently sifting through fallen leaves; it is unmistakably engaged in a purposeful search for something of value.

Speaking about the human species, we can find search and discovery everywhere - from daily chores to scientific, industrial, or cultural activities. A student searching for information for their homework, an engineer investigating how to optimize the process, an artist in a quest for new original ideas, or an explorer traveling in an unknown area — all of them are doing something that is a subject of our curiosity.

One may say that an example of an amoeba or fungi is not applicable, and discovery is not search. Maybe, and this is what we are going to figure out. In this book, we also search and investigate — this time, the nature of search itself, its methods and algorithms, and their applicability to all aspects of human life and beyond.

Why is this topic worth the whole book (and probably a dedicated science)? Search as phenomena is an integral property and manifestation of life. While we have humans at the top of the pyramid of life (although, one may say that the author is far too human-centric here), we can’t study humans in their entirety if we omit such an important activity.

Different sciences and practical activities pay some attention to search, either in a form of an occasional study or as an attempt to offer new approaches to solving practical problems. However, there’s no systematic approach to studying search

To set a stage for our study and expose a ubiquity of search in various aspects of human life, let us list some examples:

* In our daily lives, we constantly search for information to make decisions, solve problems, and satisfy our curiosity. This could include looking up facts, finding directions, or researching products before making a purchase.
* In business activities, individuals perform search to gather data, conduct market research, and stay updated on industry trends. This is crucial for decision-making, innovation, and staying competitive.
* Education is largely based on search. Formal education requires students to search for information in textbooks, journals, and online resources to deepen their understanding of various subjects. Self-learning and individual studies include searching for information to acquire new skills or expand knowledge on specific topics.
* Scientific and technological advancements and innovation would be impossible without search. The methodology of most sciences includes the topics of how to conduct the research properly as one of the cornerstones.
* In communications and social interactions as well as in art, individuals search for better ways (whatever “better” means to them) to convey their thoughts, ideas, or emotions to recipients.
* Entertainment and leisure expose both active and passive forms of search: people like adventure movies, mystery and investigation books, crime stories and alike. Or, they can choose to play quests and role-playing games both in the real world and in virtual environments.

In the following chapters, we will study the mentioned aspects in depth, as well as define common and area-specific approaches and instruments of search. We will then try to apply them in original ways in order to improve search procedures in various human activities.


Before we delve into our study, let’s agree on terms. Yes, those words that make the language and which make it look more scientific, so to say. We will get to search in languages later in this book, and for now, let us look at what the English dictionary can offer us (sorry, foreign readers, we would be happy to cover all your languages, yet this is a topic for a separate book). The below terms will be used throughout the book when talking about different aspects of the topic, so you may skip them now and get back to them should the need arise.

- “To search” is defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary [ “search,” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/search. Accessed 11/26/2023. ] as “to look into or over carefully or thoroughly in an effort to find or discover something”. This is probably the most basic definition one can offer, and the most applicable for the purposes of this book. Yet we have a pack of other, more specific words, worth mentioning with their definitions. The main synonyms to “Search” are:

- “To seek”, according to the Cambridge dictionary [ https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/seek ], is “to try to find or get something, especially something that is not a physical object”. An interesting aspect here is an emphasis on not physical objects. The second meaning of this word, though, is “to try or attempt”, which is rather far from the meaning we are looking for.
- “To look something up” is defined in the Cambridge dictionary [ https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/look-up ] as “to try to find a piece of information by looking in a book or on a computer”. This is quite close to what we are interested in, but with a more narrow connotation of “to search”.
- “To investigate” is “to examine a crime, problem, statement, etc. carefully, especially to discover the truth” [ Cambridge, https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/investigate ]. This is a good synonym to “search” and “seek” when the goal is to discover the truth, proof, or evidence.
- “To locate” is defined by Merriam-Webster [ “locate,” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/locate. Accessed 11/26/2023. ] as “to seek out and determine the location of”. I.e., here, we would be talking about a search for a location of a certain object or a living being.
- “To inspect” as per [ Cambridge ] is “to look at something or someone carefully in order to discover information, especially about their quality or condition”. Here, we see the goal to find information about quality or condition, i.e., search for flaws or errors. Close synonyms to “inspect” are “to check”, “to examine” and “to probe”.

Other words which may prove useful are

- “To explore” is “to think about, talk about, or study something, or to experience it, in order to find out more about it” [ Cambridge, https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/explore?q=explore ]. Exploration leads to discovery. We will cover the “search vs discovery” topic later in this chapter.
- “To research” is defined in [ Cambridge, https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/research?q=research ] as “to study a subject in detail, especially in order to discover new information or reach a new understanding”. Here, we also encounter discovery as an outcome.  
- “To look out for” (“to try to notice someone or something” as per the Cambridge dictionary, [ https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/look-out-for ])
- “To browse” is defined by the Collins dictionary [ https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/browse ] as follows: “If you browse in a shop, you look at things in a fairly casual way, in the hope that you might find something you like.”, which is an intriguing term for us as it may convey the meaning of “lazy search”. I.e., browsing is definitely a form of a search (which fact we will make use of later).

Overall, we have found several dozens of common and phrasal verbs directly related to search and its facets. Most of them will be mentioned further, but without definitions, so that  we avoid the risk of turning this book into a dictionary (the author can hardly compete with Cambridge or Merriam-Webster).

The Search vs Discovery debate

"Search" and "discovery" are related concepts but refer to different stages in the process of finding or uncovering something.

Seth Godin in his blog [ https://seths.blog/2014/04/search-vs-discovery/ ] gets to the point:

“Search is what we call the action of knowing what you want and questing until you ultimately find it. … Discovery, on the other hand, is what happens when the universe (or an organization, or a friend) helps you encounter something you didn't even know you were looking for.”

Mr.Godin made this note about marketing, but it is way broader than just one practical application.

Discovery can be defined as the act of finding or learning something for the first time, often unexpectedly or unintentionally

Let’s review what we know about search and discovery besides their definitions.

Both search and discovery include a set of criteria — conditions according to which the action may be considered as successful and the outcome may be treated as a positive result.

For search, these criteria are rather strict and define just one or a limited group of objects or piece(s) of information. When people search for something, they often mean an exact object, which was known to them or possessed by them before the search (e.g., the lost car keys). We can state that “there exists the object; we need to find it”. At other times, they have a very specific knowledge about an object or knowledge that is believed to exist (the search for a phoenix bird or for a philosopher's stone in alchemy). We can say “there should exist some object or objects, we need to find any of them”.

In the case of discovery, it can happen that the only criteria of fitness is that the information or the object were not known beforehand — either to an individual who makes a discovery or for humankind as a whole.

In science, where research is done most frequently, the criteria besides novelty are that the obtained result belongs to the field of research and has at least a grain of usability either for practical life or for science. As said, “travelling without a destination is just wandering”; research without criteria is meaningless.

The presence of criteria is an interesting aspect: oftentimes, it happens that when achieving the goal becomes impossible or infeasible, the actor claims already achieved results to be the final goal. Thus, the goal of the search or discovery should be articulated beforehand.

The second aspect is that both search and discovery may be proactive and aim to achieve the result according to the criteria. Often, it is research and study that lead to a discovery; at other times, a discovery is a result of mere observations. However, for discovery, even this is not mandatory; as Mr.Godin noticed, “discovery happens”.

Discovery implies a sense of surprise, novelty, or revelation. It can result from a deliberate exploration or investigation, but the key aspect is the revelation of something not previously known or understood.

If we stick to the above definition and properties of discovery, we can notice that discoveries occur to any living being quite frequently. Our sensory organs and external data sources (newspapers, internet, TV) provide us with new information related to objects and events about which we had no clue before. This would be our personal discovery, but most likely, what is new for us is not new for others or, even if it is, such a “discovery” has no usability at all, neither for us nor for others. Such daily life discoveries are of little interest to us besides the need to mention their existence.

Real discoveries are closely related to search. Occasionally, the search process leads to an unexpected discovery. For example, biologists may search for representatives of a certain species in the forest, and while doing so, discover a completely unknown species. At other times, the discovery leads to a more specific search. A common example is an investigation of a crime — a discovery of a criminal accident leads to the search for evidence and specific information about objects and subjects of this crime. Another similar example may be an accidental discovery of some buried building in the jungle; it leads to a focused search of a settlement or traces of human activity nearby.

Search and discovery differ in the overall outcome of the activity.

Search results are usually limited or bounded and have immediate practical applicability. This can be a specific object that is found (car keys, anyone?), or a location of an object that belongs to a particular group or class (a good pasture with fresh grass) that is figured out.

A discovery includes a result that has broad or undefined scope and may, possibly, be useful in the future. A scientific discovery may have no practical applicability at all and describe effects on the edge of the Universe. Higgs’ boson was first discovered theoretically, and even its experimental discovery in years 2010-2020 didn’t make it practically usable (so far?).

Often, there’s a separate search required to find applications of a discovery to practical needs.