That mix of planned television appearances, touching speeches, debates forged by the noble art of persuasion.

Because, according to studies by Robert Epstein, PhD in Psychology at Harvard and now a professor at the American Institute for Behavioral Research and Technology, it will not be any of this to affect more or less malleable minds of citizens.
The complex search formulas that Google engineers adjust every day, in fact, would have the power to influence our opinions and preferences more effectively than we can imagine.
The connection is immediate: their calculations depend on the results of our research.
And above all, the order in which they are presented to us.
But PIP - Search Engine Manipulation Effect, so dubbed by Epstein was tested through five trials involving over 4,500 individuals.
The preferences have undergone a sharp turn in favor of the candidate with the most visibility, the one whose position was located on top of the search results.
"Google has accumulated a higher power to control to any other company ever existed," said Epstein.
Adding that the changes in the search algorithms could easily direct the opinion of 20% of undecided voters, reaching up to 60% in certain demographic groups.
A hefty sum, considering that half of the US presidential election was won by a lower margin to 7.6%.
Among the administrative Italian coming and the policies that might not anticipate but perhaps yes, we asked him what will happen to us.
Considering our background political / cultural, how do you think that might impact SEED in Italy?
"Italy has a multiparty system of government.
If one of the parties is favored in the ranking of any research concerning the elections, the votes of the undecided voters will go to great lengths just in favor of that party.
More elections are approaching, the easier it is for SEED to play a decisive role in the election result ".
Think you can get SEED to undo the effects of other forms of influence (tv, campaigns, social networks ...)?
"With increasing use of the internet (12 December 2014 Italy registered a 60.2% penetration rate, which is relatively low) and the number of people entering materially connected with the electoral process through the network - especially through search engines, now the source of much of the information- 's sEED impact will continue to grow compared to that of other means of influence.
Despite SEED is not, at present, the most powerful form of influence on the electorate, it is very likely - especially in the absence of adequate supervision and regulation - which will become in the near future.
Other means of influence have not undergone significant changes over time; the SEED impact grows every year. "
As a result, it believes that politicians tend to (or even should) invest money in this "subtle" forms of campaigning, thus replacing the traditional ones?
"The most cunning politicians are already using SEO techniques (Search Engine Optimization, ed) to try to improve their online ranking.
However it is a very competitive process, which is therefore not a real threat.
The real problem is that in many countries-among which the Italy- almost all searches are conducted on a single search engine.
I believe that about 90% of the Italian research done through Google.
For this reason, Google -i its employees or even his research-algorithm p UO easily take control of the impending election results without anyone's knowledge and without the candidates can counter this manipulation mechanism.
The algorithm does not follow any principle of equality.
No way to "overlay" a candidate or a political party to another; There is no way, however, to choose whether to place them before or after.
When this happens, the preferences inevitably veer toward the object with the best position. "
From the form of social influence a threat to the democratic system, in short, would seem a small step.
To which the most visited site in the world has responded, denying the conspiracy theory advanced by Epstein: "Our aim has always been to provide the best answers to users.
Change approach would jeopardize the credibility of the whole company.
Google has never manipulated the results of research with respect to any matter, including elections ".
Also because a search engine, to be valid and effective, it must be considered reliable.
Exactly how an electoral system.
On climate even journalism has to choose a side

From Wired