atomicscissors Posted January 5, 2011 Posted January 5, 2011 IBM’s “Watson” Computing System to Challenge All Time Greatest Jeopardy! Champions I'm so excited. This should be very interesting. Quote
thegunny Posted January 5, 2011 Posted January 5, 2011 I'm so excited. Don't get out much, do you The prizes are pretty ho hum. If the dumb humans win I reckon they should be able to smash Watson to pieces with a bit of "In your face you pile of silicon chips". Quote
CoryHolmes Posted January 5, 2011 Posted January 5, 2011 At first I was 'meh' about this. A computer on an information game? Gimmick! But then I watched the video and saw just how difficult it was to convey that information in natural English into a format that a computer can understand and work with. Now I'm more "hmmm" than "meh". This bears more investigation. Quote
EXO Posted January 5, 2011 Posted January 5, 2011 We're all gonna die! Starting with two geeks! Quote
atomicscissors Posted January 5, 2011 Author Posted January 5, 2011 I, for one, welcome our new computer overlords. Quote
BeyondTheGrave Posted January 6, 2011 Posted January 6, 2011 So you welcome skynet. I'll know who to blame when it all goes down. Quote
CoryHolmes Posted January 6, 2011 Posted January 6, 2011 Why be so pessimistic? It could just as easily be Multivac! Or HAL9000! Or WACO! Or AM! Or... waitasec, I think I took a wrong turn somewhere... Quote
dizman Posted January 6, 2011 Posted January 6, 2011 I'll probably watch this, if IBM actually made the computer able to understand and respond to questions then it will win without any trouble. I'm kinda hoping it will fizz and explode on the first question taking out the two Jeopardy stars and Trebeck. Quote
Ghost Train Posted January 7, 2011 Posted January 7, 2011 I'll probably watch this, if IBM actually made the computer able to understand and respond to questions then it will win without any trouble. I'm kinda hoping it will fizz and explode on the first question taking out the two Jeopardy stars and Trebeck. The computer is actually Trebek's long time nemesis Sean Connery: Quote
atomicscissors Posted January 7, 2011 Author Posted January 7, 2011 (edited) "I'll take 'The Rapists' for $200." Edited January 7, 2011 by atomicscissors Quote
F-ZeroOne Posted January 14, 2011 Posted January 14, 2011 (edited) Pah. Our new Artificially Intelligent Quiz Show Overlord has yet to meet Stephen Fry and Q.I.. (link has a little swearing). Edited January 14, 2011 by F-ZeroOne Quote
CoryHolmes Posted January 14, 2011 Posted January 14, 2011 Upon more thought of this, I've swung back to the ambivilent camp. I think we can tell already that Watson will always be able to ring in first, leaving the squishy competetors always getting the sloppy seconds if it fails. That seems somewhat unfair. Quote
azrael Posted January 14, 2011 Posted January 14, 2011 Some better video (and a shot with the confidence score on IBM's monitor) IBM's Watson supercomputer destroys all humans in Jeopardy practice round (video!) Quote
EXO Posted January 14, 2011 Posted January 14, 2011 Upon more thought of this, I've swung back to the ambivilent camp. I think we can tell already that Watson will always be able to ring in first, leaving the squishy competetors always getting the sloppy seconds if it fails. That seems somewhat unfair. that's not really true. Any contestant can read ahead and ring in before Trebek finishes reading the answer. According to the scores where I found it the link which I forgot to add (I think it's on Gizmodo), even tough Watson was winning it was only thru a small margin againt one of them. And if you add up the contestants score, the machine was actually losing to the humans. Quote
David Hingtgen Posted January 15, 2011 Posted January 15, 2011 Who decides how much to risk on a question? Watson? IBM's guys take a poll? Especially for the final one--I'd be impressed if the computer can guess if the human competitors know the answer, and base its wager off of their chances of gettting it right... Quote
azrael Posted January 15, 2011 Posted January 15, 2011 Who decides how much to risk on a question? Watson? IBM's guys take a poll? Especially for the final one--I'd be impressed if the computer can guess if the human competitors know the answer, and base its wager off of their chances of gettting it right... Actually, that's probably how it's going to do it. It will probably wager accordingly to how it does in the category, assuming it has or can answer correctly in the category. If it calculates a high probability of getting the answer right, that confidence score will weigh in on how much it will bet. So let's say it's been answering all the questions correctly in that category correctly and all of its answers have had a confidence score of >90%, then it would make its bet accordingly, i.e., let's say >75% of its earnings. As for how it will do in Final Jeopardy!, when there's nothing pre-existing to calculate against, I'm still waiting for that answer. Quote
CoryHolmes Posted January 15, 2011 Posted January 15, 2011 Who decides how much to risk on a question? Watson? IBM's guys take a poll? Especially for the final one--I'd be impressed if the computer can guess if the human competitors know the answer, and base its wager off of their chances of gettting it right... Annnnnnnd just like that, I swing right back into the "hey, cool!" catagory. This is something that I want to see play out Quote
atomicscissors Posted January 16, 2011 Author Posted January 16, 2011 I just wish they'd give Watson a red camera eye. Quote
EXO Posted February 15, 2011 Posted February 15, 2011 just watched it. pretty cool so far. the amazing thing is that it actually gets some of the answers incorrect and it's not as clear cut as it would have seemed. They wasted a lot of time on talking about the machine though. Quote
CoryHolmes Posted February 15, 2011 Posted February 15, 2011 It wouldn't be an event if they didn't blabber on about it. Besides, this is a momentous occasion for the audience (both studio and TV) and they probably didn't know as much about it as we internet denizens did. That being said, I really enjoyed how Watson didn't have a choke-hold on the answers. It didn't ring in if it wasn't confident in the answer and didn't know that the previous player had used a wrong answer (which it then repeated). So far, looking quite entertaining. Can't wait for tomorrow's continuation. Quote
Renato Posted February 15, 2011 Posted February 15, 2011 I haven't seen the show yet, will try to do so online, as it certainly seems intriguing. Anyway, for those interested, this week's issue of TIME magazine has a feature on "The Singularity": the moment when cognitive machines will take over and become the prominent sentient species on Earth, which is predicted to occur in 2045. Quote
CoryHolmes Posted February 15, 2011 Posted February 15, 2011 The Singularity has more to it than mere AI takeover. That's just one of the possible situations that could cause the Singularity. Massive bionic augmentation, cybernetic connection, uploading conciousness... Quote
UN Spacy Posted February 15, 2011 Posted February 15, 2011 Watched it tonight. Jennings will rally for all mankind. Quote
EXO Posted February 15, 2011 Posted February 15, 2011 It wouldn't be an event if they didn't blabber on about it. Besides, this is a momentous occasion for the audience (both studio and TV) and they probably didn't know as much about it as we internet denizens did. That being said, I really enjoyed how Watson didn't have a choke-hold on the answers. It didn't ring in if it wasn't confident in the answer and didn't know that the previous player had used a wrong answer (which it then repeated). So far, looking quite entertaining. Can't wait for tomorrow's continuation. I agree. That's why it should have been an hour for the first episode or a five day thing. The event itself is watching the game and to see the competition between men and machine. Quote
azrael Posted February 15, 2011 Posted February 15, 2011 The episode is floating on Youtube. I'll avoid posting links since it might get taken down but Watson performed well. It definitely struck out on a few answers and I do recall it fumbled an response. The correct response was "What is 'missing a leg'?" but Watson responded with "What is 'leg'?". Tomorrow is the Double Jeopardy and Final Jeopardy rounds. It will be interesting to see how responds to more complex and obscure language-usage. Quote
Renato Posted February 15, 2011 Posted February 15, 2011 The Singularity has more to it than mere AI takeover. That's just one of the possible situations that could cause the Singularity. Massive bionic augmentation, cybernetic connection, uploading conciousness... Yep. And Facebook. Quote
azrael Posted February 16, 2011 Posted February 16, 2011 Watson kicked some serious ass in Double Jeopardy and really stumbled in Final Jeopardy (saved by a low bid). It's going into day 2 with a substantial lead. Quote
CoryHolmes Posted February 16, 2011 Posted February 16, 2011 After having two nights to think about it, I'm still upset they didn't give Watson a red camera eye for an avatar... Quote
Roy Focker Posted February 16, 2011 Posted February 16, 2011 that's not really true. Any contestant can read ahead and ring in before Trebek finishes reading the answer. According to the scores where I found it the link which I forgot to add (I think it's on Gizmodo), even tough Watson was winning it was only thru a small margin againt one of them. And if you add up the contestants score, the machine was actually losing to the humans. Are you sure? I watched last night and the contestants all allowed Trebek to finishing reading the answers. These were answers that even I was able to get right before he finished reading them. Quote
EXO Posted February 16, 2011 Posted February 16, 2011 Are you sure? I watched last night and the contestants all allowed Trebek to finishing reading the answers. These were answers that even I was able to get right before he finished reading them. You're right. Maybe they changed it but a long time ago Trebek sometimes used to stop mid sentence when someone rang in. Finally saw last nights episode on youtube. Ironically, my DVR machine wasn't smart enough to record it even though it scheduled Monday's and tonights episode. Wow, they got decimated... I'm also surprised at the way it can pronounce all the words correctly. Quote
azrael Posted February 17, 2011 Posted February 17, 2011 Surprisingly, Watson didn't seem as confident in its answers today. But still, bravo IBM. Now give it the voice of Majel Roddenberry. Quote
CoryHolmes Posted February 17, 2011 Posted February 17, 2011 I missed most of today's show, but I saw the dollar values at the end. Watson just absolutly crushed it's competition. I know some people are going to use this as an anti-technology excuse, but I think this is an amazing leap in computer useage. Yesterday they were talking about doctors being able to use natural language to confer with automated record-keeping machines for a second opinion, and now I wonder what other applications this technology will have in a few years. That being said, Douglas Rain and not Majel Roddenberry Quote
Keith Posted February 17, 2011 Posted February 17, 2011 I don't know, I think they should have built it a mechanical hand to hit the buzzer with. I'm curious how much of a factor digital impulse vs analog impulse plays when buzzing in quickly Quote
Mog Posted February 17, 2011 Posted February 17, 2011 Just what do you think you're doing, CoryHolmes? Just don't hook the trivia-answering bastard up to a super-dimensional space fortress. Or Skynet. Or connect it to a Cybernetic Lifeform Node with a monothesist belief system. Or allow it to turn us into an energy source after we send up massive nuclear clouds to block out the sun in an attempt to depower our new mechanical overlords. Frak it: let's just tell Watson to divide by zero and be done with it. Quote
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