
Jeopardy-Playing Watson Computer System Could Revolutionize Research - solipsist
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=jeopardy-playing-watson
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emef
> What Watson doesn't do is attempt to mimic the human ability to use common
> sense, make leaps of logic or imagine the future....

Pretty much sums up why I'm disillusioned about Watson and all the hype it's
receiving. Don't get me wrong, it is a huge engineering feat, and pretty
incredible, but doesn't seem as "revolutionary" as it's made out to be.

Am I missing something?

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th0ma5
No, you're spot on. However, this sort of thing in the past (previously chess,
the engine vs. a horse, etc) has sparked a wave of this _kind_ of thing, which
perhaps draws attention to automated logic reasoning in a way that is away
from the traditional public tendency to lump all of those things (common
sense, leaps of logic, imagination) in with automated reasoning. That could be
beneficial, especially if we want to explore it as a tool. It is a stunt, but
if anyone would be able to start these kinds of conversations, it would be
IBM.

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th0ma5
Just curious, was this not a constructive set of statements?

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solipsist
No, I accidentally pressed the downvote on an iPad when viewing your comment.
I had meant to upvote you. I've upvoted this other comment of yours, though,
to make up for it. Sorry for the trouble.

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th0ma5
I've certainly done that! RTs on twitter mobile web too.

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radu_floricica
A couple of comments:

1\. Every completely new technology (and this is truly new) has lots of low
hanging fruit to pick which are not obviously at first glance. Jeopardy was a
test application and publicity source, but where the real-world applications
are, we don't know yet. But it's a safe bet there'll be at least a couple of
domains that will be completely revolutionized.

2\. The great benefits of AI, like those of computing in general, aren't in
AI-only applications. We won't have black box factories any time soon, just as
we don't have black box financial systems or medical equipment. The benefits
come _always_ from the synergy between human and machine.

So the argument that Watson isn't a _real_ AI doesn't hold water (true
Scotsman anyone?). It's an awesome tool, with the potential to work with
humans closer, better and on a larger scale then what we have now.

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catshirt
_"Jeopardy-Playing Watson Computer System Could Revolutionize Research"_

you don't say

