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This is going to be, for lack of better words, epic. On a personal level however, it's a reminder of how truly wondrous the future is. When Deep Blue beat Kasp

This is going to be, for lack of better words, epic. On a personal level however, it's a reminder of how truly wondrous the future is. When Deep Blue beat Kasparov I was a kid in an Italian high school, trying to explain to disinterested fellow students why that was a big deal. Not even in my wildest dreams I would have imagined to be working for the company that made that and this event possible, in a different country than my own. Sorry for the slightly off topic comment, but I just wanted to remind everyone that the future can be a beautiful and surprising time if you stick around long enough to witness it.

Alex3917 16y ago
Reminds me of this Brad Paisley video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0Yg9wjctRw&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0Yg9wjctRw&feature=relat...
meterplech 16y ago
I love seeing this type of response. It's similar to the race to put a man on the moon. Some technology should be there to inspire.
- jonhohle 16y ago
  Not just inspire, but push the envelope. The fallout of traveling to space not only unified the country but provided new technologies which simply had no need to be created until something as epic as landing on an orbiting satellite was attempted. These actions pay dividends unrelated to the mission at hand.
  - dmd 16y ago
    By 'orbiting satellite' I'm guessing you meant the Moon, but I've personally always been most amazed not by the moon landing per se, but the subsequent return from the surface to dock with the waiting CSM.
    - ugh 16y ago
      The Lunar Module is an amazing piece of engineering! It can land, be the base for excursions for more than three days, becomes and impromptu rocket launch pad and is eminently dockable. All that capability fits in a cube with a five meter edge and weighs less than 15 tons, it was developed and built in well less than ten years and it worked every single time. Some like the raw power of the Saturn V, I think the multi-talented Lunar Module is much more amazing.
baddox 16y ago
Watson's defeat of top Jeopardy! players, while an impressive feat of natural language processing, is not as impressive as a defeat of a grand master, for one reason. The reason is that when multiple contestants know the correct response in Jeopardy!, it all comes down to reflexive timing. It's no surprise that a computer could buzz in faster than a human being, and there's no evidence that Watson knows more correct responses than the human competitors.
- deleted 16y ago
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- DonnyV 16y ago
  I don't think you fully understand what is going on here. Watson will Process the slang in the sentence, figure out how the words are being used, understand the context of the question and then look through its internal databases to see if it can piece different pieces of knowledge that it has to come up with an answer. THATS FUCKING HUGE!!!
  - baddox 16y ago
    What led you to believe that I don't understand what's going on? I definitely understand and appreciate IBM's accomplishment. I'm not minimizing the coolness of Watson being able to come up with so many correct responses, I'm minimizing the importance of its actual Jeopardy! gameplay. I'm not sure you understand the real game mechanics of Jeopardy! With highly proficient contestants, it comes down to being able to buzz in as soon as the light turns on indicating that the clue has been delivered by the host. All three contestants know the correct responses to most clues, and it really does come down to the buzzer reflexes, something Watson clearly has a huge advantage in. Again, I fully understand and appreciate what an advance in natural language processing and sheer computation Watson represents. Even being able to match a below-average human Jeopardy! contestant would be impressive. However, the true game-winning technique in Jeopardy! (when all three contestants are highly skilled) is buzzer reflexes.
    - azakai 16y ago

Alex3917 16y ago

Reminds me of this Brad Paisley video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0Yg9wjctRw&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0Yg9wjctRw&feature=relat...

meterplech 16y ago

I love seeing this type of response. It's similar to the race to put a man on the moon. Some technology should be there to inspire.

jonhohle 16y ago
Not just inspire, but push the envelope. The fallout of traveling to space not only unified the country but provided new technologies which simply had no need to be created until something as epic as landing on an orbiting satellite was attempted. These actions pay dividends unrelated to the mission at hand.
- dmd 16y ago
  By 'orbiting satellite' I'm guessing you meant the Moon, but I've personally always been most amazed not by the moon landing per se, but the subsequent return from the surface to dock with the waiting CSM.
  - ugh 16y ago
    The Lunar Module is an amazing piece of engineering! It can land, be the base for excursions for more than three days, becomes and impromptu rocket launch pad and is eminently dockable. All that capability fits in a cube with a five meter edge and weighs less than 15 tons, it was developed and built in well less than ten years and it worked every single time. Some like the raw power of the Saturn V, I think the multi-talented Lunar Module is much more amazing.

baddox 16y ago

Watson's defeat of top Jeopardy! players, while an impressive feat of natural language processing, is not as impressive as a defeat of a grand master, for one reason. The reason is that when multiple contestants know the correct response in Jeopardy!, it all comes down to reflexive timing. It's no surprise that a computer could buzz in faster than a human being, and there's no evidence that Watson knows more correct responses than the human competitors.

deleted 16y ago
[deleted]
DonnyV 16y ago
I don't think you fully understand what is going on here. Watson will Process the slang in the sentence, figure out how the words are being used, understand the context of the question and then look through its internal databases to see if it can piece different pieces of knowledge that it has to come up with an answer. THATS FUCKING HUGE!!!
- baddox 16y ago
  What led you to believe that I don't understand what's going on? I definitely understand and appreciate IBM's accomplishment. I'm not minimizing the coolness of Watson being able to come up with so many correct responses, I'm minimizing the importance of its actual Jeopardy! gameplay. I'm not sure you understand the real game mechanics of Jeopardy! With highly proficient contestants, it comes down to being able to buzz in as soon as the light turns on indicating that the clue has been delivered by the host. All three contestants know the correct responses to most clues, and it really does come down to the buzzer reflexes, something Watson clearly has a huge advantage in. Again, I fully understand and appreciate what an advance in natural language processing and sheer computation Watson represents. Even being able to match a below-average human Jeopardy! contestant would be impressive. However, the true game-winning technique in Jeopardy! (when all three contestants are highly skilled) is buzzer reflexes.
  - azakai 16y ago