Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Man vs Machine

Man and Machine were all square after Monday's showcase episode of Jeopardy. Brad Rutter (human) and Watson (computer) ended the show tied at $5,000. The third contestant, Ken Jennings (human) was trailing with a disappointing $2,000.
Nerd Alert
I'll take Never Ever Really Dated Someone for $200, Alex
(NERDS)

Brad and Ken are possibly the best known smart-asses in the country both having set Jeopardy records for winnings. Between them, they have won $6.25 million, $3.25M for Brad and Ken with a pitiful $3M. Watson, the computer, is named after IBM founder Thomas J. Watson, and is a Linux based (super?) computer.

Everyone watching the series is hoping for a human victory to reassure themselves that Watson is not going to develop into a prototype of 'Skynet', the future computer network system that will show us of the true meaning of Jeopardy.
Jeopardy - The SKYNET version
This is the future if the computer wins
This is not the first time that the power of computer 'thinking' and artificial intelligence has gone up against a game show. In an unaired edition of Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader, the producers pitted a Mac Book Air against a bicycle computer against the US education system. This edition has since been locked away in an archive at the request of both Steve Jobs and the No Child Left Behind program.
This is not the kind of apple that teacher wants
We will never know who won this contest





2 comments :

JaneneMurphy said...

You know, with all time and energy that went into creating Watson, what really impresses me is just how amazing the human brain really is. What an interesting experiment going on. Gonna re-watch 'The Matrix' right now.

Ian C - My Twist news said...

You are so right about the complexity of the human brain. A neural network of chemical and electrical signals. The ultimate piece of bio-engineering. No wonder the Scarecrow wanted one so bad.

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