nytimes.com— If the program designed by I.B.M. can beat human contestants, the field of artificial intelligence will have made a leap forward.
Apr 27, 2009View in Crawl 4
Oh, Internet tough guy. I say this as a CS student. You CS people need to take more English classes. Using the right language is just as important as having the right idea. I am a senior in Computer Science and graduating in a couple weeks. (I'm also wrapping up the last couple classes in my English degree over the summer.) I'm in a AI class right now that's been focused on just what AI is.The validity of Turing's definition is debatable, but both sides in the debate seem not to realize that part of the debate's nature is lexicographical. The meanings of the terms "artificial intelligence" and "intelligence" are often assumed when they should be explicitly defined.I don't entirely disagree with you, actually. However, since the program (or whatever form Watson takes) is attempting to act human in a specific set of circumstances (the Jeopardy game show) it can count as artificial intelligence. You say that it's just a big database, but the difficult part is after understanding the question and efficiently using that database to give a correct answer that a human will understand. That is an artificial intelligence problem, I feel. However, I'm just noting that the machine is not intelligent, it has no conception of meaning - it's just following physical, mechanical rules.Lastly, I just assumed Dr. Mangrum was a reference to something. Had no idea that it was D.R. Mangrum and that it was actually your name, so I apologize. Internet moniker ambiguity.I would enjoy talking to you more about this, as long as you can be civil, but now you've gone and made me late for AI.
Does it matter?It's about getting the CORRECT answer from unlimited databases in a matter of seconds.The show Jeopardy is the perfect example because it deals with many subjects.This is not doing a simple google search. This is, in a way "understanding" information.An IBM fixed data set is not the same as wikipedia. It can be compared to databases used in any organization. A Hospital doesn't google.
That would be quite interesting. It could either really try to figure it out as a philosophical question, or it could just look up the phrase on google and see that not only are there 443,000 results that return reference to the number 42, but Google Calculator actually RETURNS "42" as the answer:"answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything = 42"Oh, wait... or were you making a reference to Deep Thought?
maximumcheddarApr 27, 2009
*synthesized voice* I'll take PowerGenItalia.com for 800
ethergnatApr 27, 2009
Wow, I hope that is sarcasm.
Closed AccountApr 27, 2009
Oh, Internet tough guy. I say this as a CS student. You CS people need to take more English classes. Using the right language is just as important as having the right idea. I am a senior in Computer Science and graduating in a couple weeks. (I'm also wrapping up the last couple classes in my English degree over the summer.) I'm in a AI class right now that's been focused on just what AI is.The validity of Turing's definition is debatable, but both sides in the debate seem not to realize that part of the debate's nature is lexicographical. The meanings of the terms "artificial intelligence" and "intelligence" are often assumed when they should be explicitly defined.I don't entirely disagree with you, actually. However, since the program (or whatever form Watson takes) is attempting to act human in a specific set of circumstances (the Jeopardy game show) it can count as artificial intelligence. You say that it's just a big database, but the difficult part is after understanding the question and efficiently using that database to give a correct answer that a human will understand. That is an artificial intelligence problem, I feel. However, I'm just noting that the machine is not intelligent, it has no conception of meaning - it's just following physical, mechanical rules.Lastly, I just assumed Dr. Mangrum was a reference to something. Had no idea that it was D.R. Mangrum and that it was actually your name, so I apologize. Internet moniker ambiguity.I would enjoy talking to you more about this, as long as you can be civil, but now you've gone and made me late for AI.
roberszApr 27, 2009
Does it matter?It's about getting the CORRECT answer from unlimited databases in a matter of seconds.The show Jeopardy is the perfect example because it deals with many subjects.This is not doing a simple google search. This is, in a way "understanding" information.An IBM fixed data set is not the same as wikipedia. It can be compared to databases used in any organization. A Hospital doesn't google.
stansteveyApr 27, 2009
They will probably just strip out Blue Gene and cram a few people into its empty casing!
mysticaloneApr 28, 2009
I *HEART* BOOBS
vertigeltApr 28, 2009
Anyone not wearing SPF 2 Million is going to have a very bad day.
vertigeltApr 28, 2009
That would be quite interesting. It could either really try to figure it out as a philosophical question, or it could just look up the phrase on google and see that not only are there 443,000 results that return reference to the number 42, but Google Calculator actually RETURNS "42" as the answer:"answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything = 42"Oh, wait... or were you making a reference to Deep Thought?
vertigeltApr 28, 2009
These sound like my kind of guys to sit around and have beers with after work...