Fascinating. One question not asked was does it learn from its mistakes. And if so, how. It did answer that Watson doesn’t want to be a millionaire, but there remains the contest with a fifth grader.
As impressive as these things are, it needs to be remembered that they generally take a brute force approach to “solving” problems. And take a room full of equipment and steady electrical power (not to mention air conditioning) to function.
Human beings sometimes solve problems by trying lots of stuff at random until they find something that works. But we learn enough that we can solve lots of problems by memory of past problems solved, analogy, etc.
And while we generally appreciate having air conditioning and such. But we are able to function in environments which would leave a totally computer fried. Not to mention refueling only occasionally and from a variety of sources. None of which takes anything away from the accomplishment. But it also indicates how very far there still is to go before real artificial intelligence is even on the horizon. (And I speak as someone who has been in the business for years, and knows more about computers than the average man on the street — he said modestly.).
Ambiance 
Donna B. said,
June 18, 2010 at 9:09 pm
Fascinating. One question not asked was does it learn from its mistakes. And if so, how. It did answer that Watson doesn’t want to be a millionaire, but there remains the contest with a fifth grader.
And he’ll never fit in a taxi.
Peter Hoh said,
June 19, 2010 at 12:28 am
There’s always soccer.
wj said,
June 19, 2010 at 11:24 am
As impressive as these things are, it needs to be remembered that they generally take a brute force approach to “solving” problems. And take a room full of equipment and steady electrical power (not to mention air conditioning) to function.
Human beings sometimes solve problems by trying lots of stuff at random until they find something that works. But we learn enough that we can solve lots of problems by memory of past problems solved, analogy, etc.
And while we generally appreciate having air conditioning and such. But we are able to function in environments which would leave a totally computer fried. Not to mention refueling only occasionally and from a variety of sources. None of which takes anything away from the accomplishment. But it also indicates how very far there still is to go before real artificial intelligence is even on the horizon. (And I speak as someone who has been in the business for years, and knows more about computers than the average man on the street — he said modestly.).
A said,
June 19, 2010 at 5:29 pm
Forget computers playing games, where’s the useful stuff—the robot that will do the housework? Not just those vacuums the cats like to ride around on…