Beyond Search

#5: Tone

Search for "I like", "I want", "I think", etc. to filter results into first-person point of view / tone. Alternatively do the same for we or you though this might less reliably bring good results (a company might refer to itself as we)

#4: Metaphors

"X is like" "metaphor"… the metaphor of X "to think of X as a" OR "to think of X as an"

#3: Essence of

the essence of X = downwards exploration X is the essence of = upwards exploration

alternatives: the true essence of X, the real essence of X, X is in essence, in essence, X is, X is essentially…

#2: Omitting common words

You can omit words in google search with a simple subtraction operator (-WORD), recently I realized this is possible even with common words like -and -to -the. The results here are… interesting. Mostly sites without descriptions, sometimes some interesting gems.

#1: Combining Terms

To find people in a similar thoughtspace, I take note of interesting n-grams or terms that particularly resonate with me. For example “failure machines” or “intimacy gradient.” I will take terms like this and combine them with quotation marks in a google search. Sometimes I will search two very specific terms, other times I will have the second term be a way of filtering down the type of results I’m interested in. For example, "intimacy gradient" "online space" or "failure machines" "education system"