OK, so IBM has pulled off another “machine-trounces-human brain” stunt. Yes, I’m talking about Watson’s resounding triumph against two human trivia experts on Jeopardy this past week. This follows the “Deep Blue” chess matches back in 1996 and ’97, when an IBM chess-playing computer twice bet Gary Kasparov, arguably the best human chess player on the planet. (In 2003, Kasparov fought Deep Junior, a Deep Blue-inspired program able to run on a personal computer, to a tie).

Those IBM programmers and hardware designers are darn good, obviously. However, I admire IBM’s marketing division even more. Watson was a huge advertisement for IBM’s ability to provide customized artificial intelligence to the business community (they could not compete with Dell and Apple on the household computing market, though).

What Watson is: Watson is a prime example of customized artificial intelligence. Watson was built  »  continue reading …

I’ve expressed my opinion in this blog as to where things in the USA seem to be headed; generally I think they’re heading south. I appreciate the fact that the USA is a great nation simply because people like me can express their political sentiments without fear of reprisal. There are still so many wonderful things about America. But increasingly, things seem to be going wrong. I had much more hope for America’s future back in the late 60’s and early 70’s, especially when the Vietnam war finally came to an end. But since then we’ve gone through a wide variety of crisis situations (e.g., energy shortages, terrorism, financial collapse, and once again, political assassination), and although things got better every time, the healing never seemed complete. It seems as though changes and problems are coming at us quicker and quicker every year, and are starting to overwhelm our national resolve. America once seemed to have unlimited resolve, but I’m not so sure about that anymore.

But that’s just me. I thought it might be interesting to consider another viewpoint, from a fellow who grew up in Canada. Back in 1984, in his early middle age (after completing med school and becoming a doctor), he moved to the USA and started a family here. Why? Here are some of his thoughts:

Sometimes I just don’t notice what is going on in the world. I just found out about “flash mobs”, thanks to my friend Mary S. She sent me a link to a popular “flash event” that took place in a mall food court in Toronto, whereby a group of kids distributed around the food court did a rendition of Handel’s Messiah. I took a look afterwords on Wikipedia, only to find out that the flash mob idea has been around since 2004.

So let me get this straight. A group of people are organized and rehearse some dancing or singing or acting event, and then show up unexpectedly in a public area (on a street, in a park, at a mall, at a subway station, etc.) and do their thing for a few minutes. Members of the public who just happened to be milling about the area are surprised and often stop and watch, maybe even cheer or get involved somehow. But the most important thing is that someone is there recording all of this with a video camera. Because the critical thing about flash mobs is that they will be memorialized on You Tube or some other internet video platform, as to get thousands or maybe millions of viewings.

Maybe I’m just too old to appreciate all of this. It sounds a little silly to me  »  continue reading …

Despite the fact that everyone is doing it, I’m staying away from Facebook and Twitter. There’s still something about the digital “social network” thing that gives me the creeps. Well, I just read an article on the British Guardian website telling me that I’m not the only one who feels that way. A writer named Oliver Burkeman says here that Facebook is a system of “quasi-friendship”. There’s a huge gap between what you read about a person on the Facebook “wall” or on Twitter, and with what their life is really like. The social network sites tell you about people’s successes, accomplishments and interesting experiences, but never discuss their doubts and fears. What you get on the Facebook wall is just what you’d expect from a wall, i.e. a two-dimensional poster image.

Well, my thanks to Mr. Burkeman for putting into words what bothers me about Facebook. I believe that the whole thing goes deeper than a lot of people just having fun with a web site; it seems to indicate the direction of the social tide in America and probably Britain and Europe too. This tide goes away from sharing and honest communications about our innermost selves. We are becoming more and more isolated by fears of vulnerability and exploitation, or by just “not having the time for it”.

Whatever the explanation, I don’t like what I see these days. There are probably plenty of “eternal students” and “nowhere men” on Facebook; but I don’t plan to be one of them!