Well, Hunch got me confused. I usually don't have a problem forming an opinion, and quickly, in that (um). Not this time. I signed up for this new Caterina Fake's service, and just about when I was around 489th question (the system first needs to learn about you), I started thinking what is this good for?
At first, I was like, "do we ever listen to other people's advice anyway?", because - if my own behavior is any indicator (and others may also agree) - I ask others about the advices ALL THE TIME but I NEVER EVER follow them. Which made me think that we seek advice not so we can actually make a better decision, but to test-out how others will react once the decision is made. Something like this: we in fact ask others 'how would you feel if I did this?' instead of 'what do you think about this?'
If this line of reasoning is continued, then Hunch would be a great opinion-meter on how majority of others feel about the situation you are currently in, and deciding about. But then I saw kinds of questions people ask, like the above "which classical piano piece should I play?" or "what's the best sleep aid for me?" AND best yet, "which open source license should I choose?", my theory kinda got busted. Aside of the fact that these are the most boring questions ever, I realized that on Hunch people obviously wanted a more practical, everyday advice (I was personally hoping that Hunch can give me answers to more ephemeral questions, you know, the real useful stuff :). That is, they want something that Google can't give them - informative, yet personally relevant, and collaborative filtering-based answers. So I started liking Hunch again.
But then it slightly creeped me out because of its predictability; the whole experience was a bit too much machine-like; and answers are a little bit mainstream to (my suggested vacation destination is Cyprus which I happen really not to like because it is too touristy.) If that's the answer, I would rather do vacation research myself or ask my friends. I just guess that the end of the day, nothing can replace input from people who really know us beyond the answers that we feed to the Hunch system. Which brings me back to my "feelings" argument. Also, I have yet to be convinced that people will use this on an everyday basis, like "um, I am not sure about this one, let me ask Hunch!"
p.s. I just went to "For You" section, and the question for me was "Which console game is right for me?". I don't even play video games :( Seems like Hunch has some more hunching to do.
