Jeopardy! Supercomputer Watson

**david man45** · 02-16-2011, 07:27 PM

'Jeopardy' computer match takes dramatic turn - Technology & science - Innovation - msnbc.com

Anyone else watch this little contest?

**RU Joe** · 02-16-2011, 11:39 PM

I'm not sure what to say.
On one hand, the computer is capable of thinking faster than the average Human, and so its only weakness would be in its programming; like all computers, it's as smart as it's programmed to be, according to the knowledge of those who did the programming.
Unless it's an A.I. thinking computer, but even so it would only 'know what it knows'.

What was the point of this exercise?

**DrunkN** · 02-17-2011, 01:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JoeGrotowski

What was the point of this exercise?

Gimmick. And let's face it, Trebek won't live for ever. He must be replaced with something more...permanent.

( Click to show/hide )

**RU Joe** · 02-17-2011, 02:05 AM

Scary - o's.
But then, TV personalities are already little more than machines as it is, in my opinion.
Ok, so let's say they go ahead and replace him with a machine, what's next?
A machine audience?

**Kong** · 02-17-2011, 01:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JoeGrotowski

What was the point of this exercise?

It's the modern version of Deep Blue, the IBM chess computer.

Kind of cool and very gimmicky. I watched a couple youtube clips. Was a little boring to watch. The computer sometimes made some really stupid guesses. Sometimes it seemed like the humans had no chance of winning and sometimes the computer made mistakes that were shockingly bad.

**jim5cents** · 02-17-2011, 01:49 PM

So which of these celebrities could beat Watson?

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MImESnfUBaU]YouTube - Celebrity Jeopardy Montage[/ame]

**CrispyChicken** · 02-17-2011, 02:49 PM

I thought that Watson was awesome

I only watched the last 10 minutes of it, but it was sure interesting.

**RU Joe** · 02-17-2011, 05:08 PM

I can see the computer being a lot quicker on the draw, both in thinking and hitting the buzzer, but still, is it going to turn into a new 'Robo Wars' where all the contestants are computers?
In that case I suppose the creators/ programmers would probably take the cash.

Hey - maybe that's the whole idea behind this - they introduce computer players whose true purpose is to keep the show producers from having to pay out cash to Human contestants?

'I took programming for one thousand
And then my head started to spin,
I'm giving up, M.C.P.!
Just tell me now what I didn't win
Yeah yeah'

**Demon-Mask** · 02-20-2011, 11:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kong

Kind of cool and very gimmicky. I watched a couple youtube clips. Was a little boring to watch. The computer sometimes made some really stupid guesses. Sometimes it seemed like the humans had no chance of winning and sometimes the computer made mistakes that were shockingly bad.

The machine made some stupid guesses due to a lack of ability to understand things like connotation, and the occasional humor in the clues. I saw one clip of a trial run where the question was about a non-dairy creamer, the machine guessed "Milk" even though milk is the very definition of dairy.

I was sort of impressed with the machine's ability, it needs some refining. I also think it had the lamest machine voice I have ever heard.

**Kong** · 02-20-2011, 12:25 PM

It is supposed to be a great example of Artificial Intelligence. But if it doesn't know that milk is non-dairy then it has a long ways to go.

**jim5cents** · 02-24-2011, 09:36 AM

Which is the smartest computer?

Watson
WOPR (from Wargames) "Would you like to play a game?"
HAL-9000 (2001: A Space Odessey)

**Kong** · 02-24-2011, 01:28 PM

Considering only one is real, I'll go with Watson. I've never seen either of those movies though.

I heard Watson really whopped the humans in the second and third rounds.

**jim5cents** · 02-24-2011, 01:43 PM

Quote:

Considering only one is real, I'll go with Watson

I think, therefore, I am?

**RU Joe** · 02-24-2011, 03:55 PM

I say the W.O.P.R. would be the smartest, and here's why:

HAL - 9000 was defeated easily by having his circuit cards pulled.
Since he was smart enough to plan and commit the murder of the other crew members, he really should have seen this coming and been able to do something about it, like maybe shocking that last crew member to death.

Watson doesn't know the difference between dairy and non - dairy and despite his otherwise excellent performance on Jeopardy I suspect his circuit cards would be easily pulled as well.

W.O.P.R. could not be defeated; it locked itself down during its 'game' of simulated Global Thermonuclear War and the only thing that stopped it was its desire to play another game {tic tac toe}, which led it to the conclusion that some games are impossible to win.
So in essence, it wasn't really defeated at all, it simply stopped when it reached this conclusion.
Because of this, I say it's the smartest of all.