(Jeopardy IBM Challenge Spoilers!) Part Three of Jeopardy’s IBM Challenge aired last night, and while neither Ken Jennings nor Brad Rutter managed to ultimately keep up with their computer opponent Watson, at least Jennings bowed out in Final Jeopardy with a Simpsons reference:
“I for one welcome our new computer overlords” references the Simpsons quote (and ongoing internet meme) when Kent Brockman sees an ant float by the camera on Homer’s space shuttle and instantly assumes the world is about to be taken over by a super-race of giant ants. Nicely done, Mr. Jennings.
If you haven’t read Jennings’ Slate.com piece about playing against Watson, definitely check it out. He touches upon my two main reactions to the event (other than “this is amazing”):
1) Watson can basically beat the humans to the buzzer at will. As such, any time it’s a question that more than one contestant knows, it’s going to go to Watson nearly 100% of the time; Jennings mentions in the Slate piece that games between top human players also usually boil down to who has the fastest/luckiest finger, but in the case of Watson, it’s basically never going to be a contest. In a way, then, it’s not necessarily that Watson “knows” more than the other two players, and if the game were played by all three players each being able to answer whichever questions they choose with money going to multiple players if they each got it right, then the game would’ve been a lot closer, and possibly even gone to the humans because they wouldn’t have had to play as aggressively and they’re slightly more aware when they have no idea about a particular question (though Watson was still way better at this than I would’ve ever expected). Still, that’s not how the game is played, and just as Jennings’ own buzzer skill assuredly helped him mow down Jeopardy newcomers for weeks on end, Watson’s speed was simply impossible to overcome.
2) More importantly, for everyone dejectedly Tweeting “Well, Skynet’s officially here, humans are finished,” Ken points out that the IBMers kept saying that Watson’s victory was, in fact, a triumph for humanity, because it represented such an amazing landmark for human technological achievement. I completely agree with this, if only because it allows me to continue to sleep at night in the weeks leading up to Skynet’s inevitable humanity-destroying missile launch. Either way, just make sure someone kills Miles Dyson soon.
Other thoughts on the Jeopardy IBM Challenge or Watson? Leave em in the comments.
