> the "sources" for the answers are just someone's opinions — unsubstantiated by any facts

Isn't that the nature of the web?

I mean, that's exactly what I expect from web searches, so as long as you don't consider the fancy-looking [1] citations "scientific", it just digs up the same information, but summarized.

I don't expect miracles: Perplexity does the same things I've been doing, just faster. It's like a bicycle I guess.