“The perfect search engine would understand exactly what you mean and give you back exactly what you want.” – Larry Page, co-founder of Google
In November 2014, I ended Part 2 of this series with a bold proposition: Google should hire a neurosurgeon.
My reasoning was simple. A Google search then returned “about 11,900,000 results in 0.51 seconds”. Impressive. But our brain recognises an intention to act in around 300 milliseconds – before the conscious part of the mind has even caught up. The real future of search, I argued, was not a faster search box. It was a search engine that understands intent the way the brain does: before we consciously ask.
I promised a Part 3. Twelve years later, here it is – because when I look at how people in Ho Chi Minh City, and everywhere else, find things today, the journey from consciousness to unconsciousness is no longer a theory. It is happening in our pockets.
The four stages of search
Stage 1 – Conscious search: you think, you type
This is the search we grew up with. You decide what you want, choose the words, type them into a box and get ten blue links. You compare, you click, you decide. Every step is conscious. The machine is a librarian waiting for your question.
Stage 2 – Assisted search: the machine finishes your sentence
Then the machine began to guess. Autocomplete suggests the rest of your question after three letters. Spelling is corrected before you notice the mistake. Voice search lets you speak instead of type. You still ask – but the machine is already shaping how you ask.
Stage 3 – Anticipated search: answers before questions
This is where most of us live today. Feeds such as Google Discover, YouTube, TikTok and Facebook decide what you see before you search for anything. Google Maps suggests places on your usual route. And AI answers – Google’s AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Gemini – give you one answer instead of ten links.
Search has moved from “help me find” to “just tell me”. The comparing and deciding that used to be conscious work is increasingly done for us.
Stage 4 – Unconscious search: intent without a query
This is the stage Part 2 pointed towards. Your phone, watch and car already know where you are, what time it is and what you usually do next. Your camera can search what you are looking at. Brain–computer interfaces have already allowed some people with paralysis to move a cursor simply by thinking.
We are not fully there – and for everyday life we may not be for some time. But the direction is clear: the query is disappearing. The signal is becoming the intention itself.
What this changes in our daily lives
- We search less, but we are guided more. Many everyday decisions – what to eat, where to go, whom to trust, what to buy – are now shaped by suggestions we never asked for.
- The question changes from “Can I find it?” to “Who chose what I see?” The convenience is real. So is the quiet loss of conscious choice.
- Our habits become the query. The morning coffee, the regular gym, the Friday dinner, the usual ride home – routine itself is now the search.
Picture a familiar Saigon moment: 7pm, on a motorbike at a red light, hungry. A few years ago you would stop and type “phở near me”. Today you say it to your phone – or you don’t even ask, because Maps already shows three places nearby. The decision is made in seconds, almost unconsciously.
A small lifestyle habit I recommend: once a week, search consciously. Ask a real question, read beyond the first answer, compare two sources. It keeps the mind in charge of the machine, not the other way round.
What this means for businesses: if customers stop searching, you must be remembered
In Stage 1, businesses fought for keywords. In Stages 3 and 4, the machine increasingly chooses on the customer’s behalf – and it can only recommend what it knows and trusts. So the real question for every business owner today is: does the machine know you?
- A verified, complete Google Maps (Google Business Profile) listing with correct hours, real photos and genuine reviews. For local decisions, this is often the first – and only – thing the machine looks at. Our guide shows how to verify your business on Google Maps.
- A website that answers real questions clearly – what you do, where you are, how pricing or quotes work. AI answers draw on pages that explain things simply.
- The same information everywhere – website, Google, Facebook, Zalo. Inconsistent details make the machine unsure, and an unsure machine recommends someone else.
- Content that shows real expertise, written for people, not stuffed with keywords.
- Measurement – Google Analytics 4 and Search Console to see how people actually arrive, so decisions are based on data, not guesses.
The neurosurgeon is still missing
In 2014 I said Google should hire a neurosurgeon. Today’s AI models learn from enormous amounts of human language – the closest thing yet to reading intent. But understanding meaning is not the same as understanding a person.
The brain does not only calculate. It feels, remembers and decides with emotion and context. A search engine that truly works like the brain would need to respect that – to be helpful without being manipulative, and to anticipate without taking away our choice. That, to me, is the next real breakthrough.
As I wrote in Part 2: nothing is impossible. We simply need to revolutionise our thinking.
How DMG can help
At DMG, we help businesses in Vietnam stay visible at every stage of this journey – from classic SEO and Google Maps (Google Business Profile) optimisation to being understood by AI search – and we help teams use digital and AI tools in a way that keeps people, not algorithms, in control of their decisions.
Not sure what Google and AI tools currently “know” about your business? Start with our Free Website Check, or message us on WhatsApp.
This series began as an idea in 2014. You can read Part 2 on LinkedIn. Should there be a Part 4? I welcome your feedback and insights.
