Access the Morozko knowledge library with a new Virtual Research Assistant
Summary
Browsing the Morozko library of articles can be tedious and pain-staking.
A new AI-powered search bot allows you to ask any science question of the Morozko library, using a Virtual Research Assistant.
The bot is in beta-mode, and would benefit from your feedback on how to make it better.
The Future of Online Search
You may have noticed that online search is changing fast. Increasingly, search engines like Google are providing "AI Overview" results that compile results from many websites, rather than just pointing you to what their algo thinks as the websites that might interest you most.
The results will be profound.
For businesses, the original Google search engine was little more than a digital equivalent of the old Yellow Pages. When I was a kid, the Yellow Pages used to advertise with the tag line "Let your fingers do the walking."
This old television commercial illustrates the problem that the Yellow Pages was solving for customers. Instead of walking around to lots of different stores to look for something special, the Yellow Pages encouraged people to call the stores ahead of time and ask.
What a time-saver that was in the 1970's!
Later, when the Yellow Pages became ubiquitous, the NYMEX Yellow Pages changed their tag line to "If it's out there, it's in here" -- which could just as well apply to Google today. And just like the Yellow Pages before them, the business of commercial directory listings has been very lucrative for Google.
Now that's changing.
The new online search is more like wikipedia than the Yellow Pages -- except the results are written by large language model (LLM), artificial-intelligence (AI) powered robots, instead of people editing the wiki free. If these AI Overviews are successful, wiki sites will have to adapt to remain relevant -- and so will online content creators. Meanwhile, Google is in transition.
For example, check the results of a 29 August 2023 search for "ice bath testosterone" that I posted to the Morozko Instagram recently. The AI Overview says that "there's no evidence that ice baths increase testosterone," because that's the most common opinion in popular articles posted online. However, the number one ranked individual search result in my How to Use Cold Plunge Therapy to Boost Testosterone, Naturally article -- which contradicts the AI Overview! However, the search results vary depending on what browser I use (e.g., Firefox or Chrome), how I'm logged in and probably what Google knows about my search history. Unlike wikipedia, Google will probably get better at showing me only the results that it thinks I want to see.
That could be a problem, because the AI engines are good at averaging old things. That is, they're good for constructing a consensus that confirms existing biases, misconceptions, or conventional wisdom. They're not likely (yet) to show you results that might surprise you. They're not (yet) good at finding the outliers, the rare cases, or the new knowledge that contradicts the mainstream.
The Morozko Virtual Research Assistant
To remedy that, and to make it easier to browse the Morozko knowledge library of science & experience related to ice baths and cold plunge therapy, we've installed our own AI-powered search engine. It's trained only on Morozko content, so it's not a repository representing the consensus view of entrenched medical interests. Instead, it's trained on what I consider to be the leading edge of cold plunge science.
To activate the Search Bot, click on the little blue icon in the lower right-hand corner of your screen. A pop-up window will expand, prompting you to ask a science question.
When I tested the bot, which is provided by a 3rd party called "e-desk," I thought the answers it gave were more than 80% correct. That's pretty good, but it's not perfect.
DISCLAIMER. Remember that Morozko does not diagnose or cure any disease. Nothing communicated by Morozko has been evaluated by the FDA. Morozko does not give medical advice. This website is for education and information purposes only. For example, the Morozko Virtual Research Assistant is provided only for your entertainment by assisting you in locating articles you might enjoy.
There are some things I can do behind the scenes that will improve the responses provided by the Virtual Research Assistant. For example, if I see consistent errors in the responses, I can pre-program better responses to frequently asked questions.
In this way, the Virtual Research Assistant will allow people access to Morozko knowledge base that is unmediated by Google, Facebook, or Twitter. That is, having our own search engine trained on our own content means that you won't have to claw through dozens of others results, or rely on the Big Tech companies to navigate the biases either imposed upon them, or implicit in the preponderance of content on the internet.
You can also ask the Virtual Research Assistant product-related questions. For example, when I asked about the ideal ice bath for an individual that is 6'2" and 240lbs, it answered that the XL Plunge was a good choice.
That's accurate, although the MIB66 is also a good choice (and less expensive).
In fact, the e-desk bot was intended to be used as a sales tool. In my conversations with e-desk prior to this installation, they were sort of dumbfounded by the idea that I might want to use as a library search engine, rather than to generate leads and guide users to a purchase or generate service tickets.
That probably says more about me than it does about e-desk, because I'm all for selling more ice baths, but I still think that our science-backed approach is the best way to do that. It's hard for me to imagine a day when a robot will replace the Morozko consultative sales approach and even if I could, I doubt I would want that. I think the most important thing about the Morozko purchase experience is that customers are 100% confident in the people from whom they're buying.
So if you find yourself playing around with the Virtual Research Assistant and discover something that you think is wrong, or contradicts your experience, will you send me a note and tell me what that is? Maybe in this way I can use the feedback from the people using the search bot to improve the responses, add to the knowledge library, and advance the mission of Morozko to share the knowledge and equipment necessary for people to take charge of their health.
About the Author
Thomas P Seager, PhD is an Associate Professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering at Arizona State University. Seager co-founded the Morozko Forge ice bath company and is an expert in the use of ice baths for building metabolic and psychological resilience.
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