NOT THE PLAISANCE? A computer may never understand why former Fort Wayne Mayor Harry Baals has become a cultural icon, but it apparently has some skills at turning straightforward fact-based answers into questions. As noted in the comments yesterday, Watson's a Daily Double hunter, and remains most interesting are the questions it's not answering (as well as its wagering strategy).
[Added: on Watson's known unknowns, see this official IBM explanation on the one you're wondering about.]
Can mankind survive? Does anyone have John Connor's phone number?
I didn't get to watch last night's ep until just now... and Alex cracked me up right at the beginning when he referred to this potentially being "an historic" event. We were JUST talking about that!!! (Like Alex, I've always said "an historic"... maybe it's a Canadian thing...?)
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of which, an Ngram. (They were neck and neck until 1940 or so, when "a historic" started to predominate.)
ReplyDeleteAnd one more to confirm that in British English, "an historic" was historically more common ... until about 1980.
ReplyDeleteSorry, my question for IBM was why they didn't hire Douglas Rain to voice Watson.
ReplyDeleteLoved that Ferrucci wore a Blue Jays jacket to the taping.
ReplyDeleteAlso enjoyed this explanation of how Toronto might possibly have come into Watson's calculations:
http://muggins7.wordpress.com/2011/02/16/think-watson-was-way-off-base-with-toronto-think-again/
Spoiler discussion:
ReplyDeleteEven though Watson doesn't give much weight to category titles, I think the next iteration of software should give more weight to Final Jeopardy category titles. They do tend to be very straightforward and are fully intended to be useful information.
I would very much like to see some discussion of Watson's clue selection and wagering choices.
Er, not the taping, but the viewing party. If he had worn it to the taping, it'd be a lot different.
ReplyDelete