[IvyMike]

In Greg Egan's story Crystal Nights, one of the characters became rich by making a site called "FoodExcuses.com", where you input what you eat and it gathers all of the scientific literature justifying it as a healthy diet.

It's just a throwaway joke in the story but I'm convinced it would absolutely work in real life.

http://ttapress.com/553/crystal-nights-by-greg-egan/

[gojomo]

Every day I find more evidence that the internet mainly serves to confirm for people what they already believe. Just like I always suspected.

[anigbrowl]

Ha :)

Seriously, this is a worry. When I was younger I thought the Internet would make the scientific method go mainstream, with Usenet and later the web functioning as a sort of intellectual meritocracy.

Note to idealists: expect less and you won't be disappointed.

[tim333]

I'm an optimist and think it works a bit. Amongst all the rubbish there's some well thought out stuff out there on the interwebs and those that are interested may be able to find it. The people who like reading nonsense for entertainment don't matter that much. Except they vote. So maybe they do. Anyway...

[treeface]

I accidentally downvoted you, but this is very clever.