Rise of the (Debating) Machines

Andrew Donaldson

Born and raised in West Virginia, Andrew has since lived and traveled around the world several times over. Though frequently writing about politics out of a sense of duty and love of country, most of the time he would prefer discussions on history, culture, occasionally nerding on aviation, and his amateur foodie tendencies. He can usually be found misspelling/misusing words on Twitter @four4thefire and his food writing website Yonder and Home. Andrew is the host of Heard Tell podcast. Subscribe to Andrew's Heard Tell SubStack for free here:

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4 Responses

  1. Dark Matter says:

    I’ve heard rumors that Watson had a lot more deterministic code than IBM wants to admit.Report

    • Kolohe in reply to Dark Matter says:

      The Watson Jeopardy challenge was definitely far less than it appeared. The machine was able to achieve victory due to it’s ability to ‘buzz in’ at the precise earliest moment one is allowed to, given the green light due to an electronic signal instead of the visual cue that humans get. (that visual cue is a light, though not green – the border of the board lights up bluish white)
      If you buzz in too early, your buzzer is locked out for a second or two. The players that make deep runs do so from their ability to time Trebek’s cadence and anticipate correctly when the clue reading is over and the response window is open.Report

  2. Schmaddox McJesusfruits says:

    AI is really making leaps and bounds. First a chess master and now a master debater.Report

  3. Cybernetic Bobby Fischer, Charles Van Doren, and Ben Shapiro. Smith-Laing is right, so one you’d want to have a beer with.Report