"I for one welcome our new computer overlords"
This statement, from Ken Jennings, Final Jeapordy contestant beat by the computer "Watson"...
Machines first out-calculated us in simple math. Then they replaced us on the assembly lines, explored places we couldn't get to, even beat our champions at chess. Now a computer called Watson has bested our best at "Jeopardy!"
A gigantic computer created by IBM specifically to excel at answers-and-questions left two champs of the TV game show in its silicon dust after a three-day tournament, a feat that experts call a technological breakthrough.
Watson earned $77,147, versus $24,000 for Ken Jennings and $21,600 for Brad Rutter. Jennings took it in stride writing "I for one welcome our new computer overlords" alongside his correct Final Jeopardy answer.
The next step for the IBM machine and its programmers: taking its mastery of the arcane and applying it to help doctors plow through blizzards of medical information. Watson could also help make Internet searches far more like a conversation than the hit-or-miss things they are now.
Watson's victory leads to the question: What can we measly humans do that amazing machines cannot do or will never do?
The answer, like all of "Jeopardy!," comes in the form of a question: Who — not what — dreamed up Watson? While computers can calculate and construct, they cannot decide to create. So far, only humans can.
"The way to think about this is: Can Watson decide to create Watson?" said Pradeep Khosla, dean of engineering at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. "We are far from there. Our ability to create is what allows us to discover and create new knowledge and technology."...
(end of quote)
"Can Watson decide to create Watson?"
If Watson is programed to, Watson can, given the tools and functionality to do so.. If Watson is stationary..yet tied to a global communications network, he can find all of his components and have them sent to factories into which he is also connected. In this way he can direct his own assembly. He can make improvements as he see's fit, thus "creating" a new being. Self improvement and replication, any goal(or program) can easily be integrated into a computer. Is this not a definition of creativity...
To create: from dictionary.com
How much differently do our own minds work than those programs that run machines?
A gigantic computer created by IBM specifically to excel at answers-and-questions left two champs of the TV game show in its silicon dust after a three-day tournament, a feat that experts call a technological breakthrough.
Watson earned $77,147, versus $24,000 for Ken Jennings and $21,600 for Brad Rutter. Jennings took it in stride writing "I for one welcome our new computer overlords" alongside his correct Final Jeopardy answer.
The next step for the IBM machine and its programmers: taking its mastery of the arcane and applying it to help doctors plow through blizzards of medical information. Watson could also help make Internet searches far more like a conversation than the hit-or-miss things they are now.
Watson's victory leads to the question: What can we measly humans do that amazing machines cannot do or will never do?
The answer, like all of "Jeopardy!," comes in the form of a question: Who — not what — dreamed up Watson? While computers can calculate and construct, they cannot decide to create. So far, only humans can.
"The way to think about this is: Can Watson decide to create Watson?" said Pradeep Khosla, dean of engineering at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. "We are far from there. Our ability to create is what allows us to discover and create new knowledge and technology."...
(end of quote)
"Can Watson decide to create Watson?"
If Watson is programed to, Watson can, given the tools and functionality to do so.. If Watson is stationary..yet tied to a global communications network, he can find all of his components and have them sent to factories into which he is also connected. In this way he can direct his own assembly. He can make improvements as he see's fit, thus "creating" a new being. Self improvement and replication, any goal(or program) can easily be integrated into a computer. Is this not a definition of creativity...
To create: from dictionary.com
1.to cause to come into being, as something unique that would not naturally evolve or that is not made by ordinary processes.
2. to evolve from one's own thought or imagination, as a work of art or an invention.
6. to cause to happen; bring about; arrange, as by intention or design:
How much differently do our own minds work than those programs that run machines?
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