A google search for the question “How old is the universe?” returns the answer “26.7 billion years” with a brief statement about a recent, questionable cosmology paper.

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1. Robert McNees (mcnees@mastodon.social)'s status on Tuesday, 18-Jul-2023 16:02:09 UTC Robert McNees

   If anyone is wondering how google is doing, it is giving incorrect answers to the query “How old is the Universe?”

   Instead of serving up scientific consensus (just shy of 14 billion years) it is latching onto recent media coverage of a questionable study (tired light, time-dependent coupling constants) claiming a much larger figure.

   Notably, it gives me the right answer from an incognito window. But elevating popularity metrics over scientific consensus is a real problem!