Sunday, February 20, 2011

Computer vs. Brain


The idea of robots and computers taking over the world has long been the stuff of kids’ books and movies. Now, however, we seem not to be too far from this fictional technological invasion.
For the past couple years, leading computer company I.B.M has been developing its own humanly-smart computer. I.B.M named the computer “Watson” and it is extremely outstanding computer due to its ability to understand instantly and respond correctly to questions. Furthermore, Watson is programmed to recall facts, analyze complicated and confusing sentences, and quickly press a button. Therefore, the company decided to host a Jeopardy trivia challenge in which Watson competed against the two of the best Jeopardy players in the U.S. Even though its competitors were faster and more experienced, Watson managed to stay in the lead for most of the competition. Only during the “Final Jeopardy” part of the game did its creators think Watson would do poorly, because in this part the contestants are given thirty seconds to answer a general knowledge question. Since this question can tie many subjects and informational data all together, the answer requires deep analysis. Nevertheless, the humans’ creation ultimately beat the humans. Watson prevailed.


This triumph not only proved the power of technology, but also opened many people’s eyes to new ideas for future “Watson-usage”, primarily in the medical field. Scientists and engineers have already begun transforming this new machine into a “cybernetic assistant” model for doctors and physicians, claiming there is a limited memory capacity to the human brain whereas this computer can keep learning and storing information infinitely.
Although this is very exciting, innovating technological tool, I am sure it makes some of us feel a little unsettled. When I first read this article , my initial shocked reaction was accompanied with many questions. So machines can be smarter than humans? Are computers going to replace people in all job fields in the near future? Who is going to make sure the new computers are not taking over our society?
I do not think anyone can provide the answers to these questions. Even the creators of Watson admitted in this video clip that they never imagined this kind of technology would be plausible and available during their life time. We should approach this social-technological revolution just like we did with the invention of the internet- taking it step by step and seeing where all of these changes and new paths are taking us. I continue to hope it will be to a better place.

4 comments:

Mathew said...

I believe the computer being able to beat the human players at Jeopardy is slightly unsettling. While computers are extremely useful, and have become a necessary part of our daily lives, I do not believe we should every rely on them to replace human expertise in a field. Computers may be able to contain more information than a human brain; but they do not possess our humanity. Due to this I hope they are strictly used for data recall in the future, and never become a significant part in our decision making process.

Andrew Kramer said...

--I agree with Mathew; this technology, while exciting, should be used with caution. The ability to analyze data and construct an answer is important in the medical field, but it is not everything. The human element must be taken into consideration. Intuition, past experience, and the ability to read people all play vital roles in innovation and problem solving. While these computers could help doctors, the cost of relying too heavily upon them could be devastating.
--If this technology continues to evolve, it will be important to keep its uses in check. We already rely on technology to entertain us and facilitate social interactions. It has even become crucial to how we learn. We can not allow our thinking process to become part of this list. We all saw Terminator, and it did not end well for us...
Andrew

Roseanne Dale said...

I actually wasn't surprised that the machine won on Jeopardy. Computers are capable of faster data retrieval and can host a larger breadth of information.

What I thought could present an issue was the selection of relevant data; that is, would the computer be able to sift through all of the semi-related information to find the correct answer. Of course, what comes to mind as a remedy to this problem is a Bing advertisement.

As of yet, I don't believe that computers can replace humans just because one beat a human on a game show. As others have commented, computers remain machines, lacking humanity. I don't think that's something that can be found in an algorithm.

Peter said...

Watching Watson from the perspective of just how the programming operated was extremely interesting. What was most interesting about Watson’s performance was how successful it was able to calculate what it did not know as opposed to what it knew. When we hear a question, we instinctively know whether we know any information relative to the answer. However, for a computer that only contains data, it has to reconstruct that knowledge we are already instinctively given, thus allowing it to assess just how much it knows. At the same time, Watson the computer does not understand English as a native language, and must first figure out what the question is asking in machine language. During this whole time, Watson must compute millions upon millions of calculations to determine whether it knows any relevant information. While a long way from the A.I. commonly described in movies and novels of the future, it is no doubt the first step towards that future. And as Ken Jennings so gracefully, “I for one welcome our new computer overlord”.