Who's going to watch the IBM computer on Jeopardy?

[nolehusker]

The 3 game series airs today. I already DVR it anyways, but I'm really excited for this one.

IBM Watson's Jeopardy play | ZDNet

 

[Cobrabit]

My wife and I may watch it. I remember when IBM developed Deep Blue that actually beat the Russian world champion. It should be interesting to see what Watson can do because Jeopardy isn't just searching for the right answer to a posed question (well technically it's the reverse of that), but the associations you have to make based upon the category may lead you into a different direction.

 

[nolehusker]

My wife and I may watch it. I remember when IBM developed Deep Blue that actually beat the Russian world champion. It should be interesting to see what Watson can do because Jeopardy isn't just searching for the right answer to a posed question (well technically it's the reverse of that), but the associations you have to make based upon the category may lead you into a different direction.

Well, they spent 5 years on this and they designed it to take into consideration the puns and the category to make those associations. I think it will be interesting. Jennings said that the computer is ridicously fast at hitting the buzzer.

 

[Cobrabit]

We'll see how it does. I remember IBM going through several prototypes and adjustments before Deep Blue beat Kasparov. So it wouldn't surprise me if the humans won and there was another series of games in a year or so after they improve Watson if needed.

 

[nolehusker]

We'll see how it does. I remember IBM going through several prototypes and adjustments before Deep Blue beat Kasparov. So it wouldn't surprise me if the humans won and there was another series of games in a year or so after they improve Watson if needed.

They're already done that before it got to this point.

 

[Cobrabit]

They're already done that before it got to this point.

Oh, I'm sure they've tested it before, but they haven't tested Watson against the best of the best yet. Deep Blue's first incarnations were in the late 80s and it lost to Kasparov then. It finally won a game against him in '96, but lost the 6 game series. Then it was heavily upgraded and finally beat Kasparov in a 6 game series in '97 (which he disputed saying that IBM cheated). So while Watson has been tested, it doesn't mean that it will automatically beat the humans. The games this week are supposed to be that test and if they need to, they can adjust Watson depending upon the game play.

Again, it wouldn't surprise me if Watson didn't win a single game, but it also wouldn't surprise me if it swept all three as well. You just don't know until it is actually tested against the best in the world. It's the process of design and the one thing that we do know, is that nothing is perfect no matter how much testing we've done.

 

[Red_Alert]

Fuck Watson!!!

 

[huskers1217]

Fuck Watson!!!

^^^ this.

I am cheering for people not named watson.

 

[iruletheskool]

LMAO

 

[SFNL]

Carnegie Mellon FTW!

 

[popeyecv64]

Fuck Watson!!!

^^^ this.

I am cheering for people not named watson.

I double this with a that ^^^^

 

[nolehusker]

That computer kicked those guys ass

 

[tech_iceman]

now people are just going to want computers to think for them (even more than they already do)

 

[Cobrabit]

Well it was certainly impressive. I do feel that it would be a lot closer score wise if the reaction time in buzzing in was closer to that of humans as both Brad and Ken seemed to know the same answers, but had no chance against a computer's reaction time.

A couple glitches (repeating a previously guessed wrong answer), but I am very interested in what IBM does with this technology. They kept leading to applications in the medical profession and I think that would be perfect for those open ended questions. We would be able to diagnose a lot quicker and save lives. The TV show House would have to go off air though because Watson would have cured the patient in the first minute.

I did like Ken's Final Jeopardy answer last night about bowing down to the new overlords, haha.

 

[nolehusker]

Yeah, the computers reaction time was an obvious advantage, but there were also times when it was still processing the answer when Ken and Brad buzzed in.

The medical applications for this could be amazing. However, there is still the human element that the patient may not describe their symptoms wrong or may not completely tell them at all.

Ken's Final Jeopardy answer was pretty funny though. However, I think he held back on how much he bet in order to come in second place.