As much as I love technology, I am also weary of it. Thus, I am so SO rooting for Ken Jennings this week on Jeopardy as he spars against IBM super computer, Watson, and that other guy, Brad Rutter in a 3 day challenge of human intelligence v. artificial intelligence.
Yesterday was the first day of the challenge, but the contestants only got to play the jeopardy round since the rest of the time was consumed by explaining Watson. At the end of the first round, Ken Jennings is in 3rd place and Watson and the other guy, Brad Rutter, are tied for first.
A note on Rutter. Does anyone else find him extremely less charismatic than Jennings (if that's even possible)? While Jennings is kind of bubbling in a fun, dorky kind of way ( aww.), Rutter is annoyingly pedantic and condescending. As if winning over 3 million dollars in his run on a gameshow based on one's intelligence isn't pedantic enough. I bet you it just KILLS him that he plays second fiddle to Jennings, lol.
So I'm rooting for Jennings, not only because I love an underdog, or that my nerdy heart simply adores him, or because I'm disgusted by Rutter...but also because I want human intelligence to still be able to surpass artificial intelligence. That the future of the world is still a humane one, and that we never lose sight of what makes our lives convenient for the most part, is nothing but a poor substitute for the human experience.
A clip from last night's match and I love the look Jennings shoots Watson at 6:45 when Watson answers incorrectly & Alex Trebek actually rebukes Watson with "No, Ken just said that." (I have a sneak suspicion that Trebek hates Watson and has jumped on the Jennings bandwagon once again):
^That moment alone is why I want Jennings to win.
this somehow reminds me of that old story...was it john henry or paul bunyon or something?...where the man had to beat the machine? They were building train tracks, that's all I remember!!
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