# IBM Computer to Compete on Jeopardy! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 27, 2009, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ibm-computer-to-compete-on-jeopardy/494492 "2009-04-27T13:38:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2009, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ibm-computer-to-compete-on-jeopardy/494492/41 "2009-04-27T21:19:39Z")
Speed is not an issue here in any way. If you can get a computer to perform a task in 20 seconds, then you can also get the computer to perform the same task in a fifth of a second, just by the trivially simple expedient of making the computer 100 times faster. And this is one of the world’s largest computer companies we’re talking about, here: They’ll be stuffing this thing full of all of the fastest hardware available anywhere, and damn the cost. **Simplicio** , that MIT language bot is hilarious-- I’ve gotten better answers from a Magic Eight Bob. I tried to throw it a bone by asking “How big is an acre?”, but it couldn’t even handle that. ---
**Author:** ![ekweizn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7c8e57/32.png) [@ekweizn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekweizn)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2009, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ibm-computer-to-compete-on-jeopardy/494492/42 "2009-04-27T21:48:02Z")
> [@](#): > > ===\> Who’s your daddy? > > Boris Katz conceived, designed and implemented the START system. It is largely written in Lisp. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2009, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ibm-computer-to-compete-on-jeopardy/494492/43 "2009-04-27T21:54:59Z")
Oh, spiffing. I finally got an audition, not even a week ago. They told us to smile, to show lots of personality. Now they’re going to let a freakin’ machine on? > [@Shoeless](#): > > I want to see how it handles the “Before and After” category. One of my all-time favorite Jeopardy moments was an audio Daily Double in “Before and After”. I don’t recall what the spoken clue was (it was a hint to the name of the band), and then they played a snippet of _Take the Skinheads Bowling_. I’ll be curious to see how the computer handles the audio and video clues. And if they have to eliminate those to accomodate the computer, that would be an act of craven puppyhood. For that matter, I wonder how the computer decides which category to select. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2009, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ibm-computer-to-compete-on-jeopardy/494492/44 "2009-04-28T00:22:15Z")
> [@Simplicio](#): > > Maybe, but the nice thing about Jeopardy, is often the answers to all but the hardest questions are one of the few most famous members of the given category. For example, I guessed the answer to your question I quoted was Emily Dickenson even though I’ve never heard the poem, just because she’s the first person that pops into my head when I hear “female poet”. Similarily, the answers to questions about magicians tend to be “Harry Houdini”, famous celloists are usually “Yo-Yo Ma”. > > So the computer doesn’t have to search through every poem ever written to find a match. If it starts with just the most famous hundred poets, I bet it will get a hit in 90% or more of cases. And if it doesn’t then it can move on to a larger and more complete database. Which is why data organization would be a big part of any successful system. It’s been a while since I looked at AI, but organizing data using knowledge of the world, something we do very well, would be a major advance - especially since they’d have to find some paradigms for collecting and arranging data. I doubt IBM has enough invested in people to make manual sorting of poems by the fame of the poet (and by type, period, and a zillion other relationships I can think of) practical. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2009, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ibm-computer-to-compete-on-jeopardy/494492/45 "2009-04-28T00:31:38Z")
> [@](#): > > ===\> Do you dream? > > Unfortunately, I wasn’t told whether I dream. That thing’s a hoot. ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2009, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ibm-computer-to-compete-on-jeopardy/494492/46 "2009-04-28T00:55:15Z")
> [@](#): > > ===\> What is your major malfunction? > > One of the servers required to answer your question is temporarily down. Please try again later. I have no idea if this thing is being a smartass or not. Incidentally, it does not recognize the word “numbnuts”. ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2009, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ibm-computer-to-compete-on-jeopardy/494492/47 "2009-04-28T01:04:22Z")
> [@](#): > > ===\> Nice to meet you. > > We should talk again soon! If you’re polite, it’ll be polite too. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2009, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ibm-computer-to-compete-on-jeopardy/494492/48 "2009-04-28T01:37:28Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > Which is why data organization would be a big part of any successful system. It’s been a while since I looked at AI, but organizing data using knowledge of the world, something we do very well, would be a major advance - especially since they’d have to find some paradigms for collecting and arranging data. I doubt IBM has enough invested in people to make manual sorting of poems by the fame of the poet (and by type, period, and a zillion other relationships I can think of) practical. Yea, manual sorting is certainly out. But you can simply take a bunch of traffic data. For example, Wikipedia has a poets category, and I bet the 100 most visited pages in that category are close to the 100 most popular poets. Similarly, famous poets probably have more links to their article from other articles then non-famous ones. It would basically be a variation of Google page rank. If two articles gave different answers about a question, the program would choose the one that came from the most popular page since Trebek is more likely to ask a question about something famous then something obscure. ---
**Author:** ![appleciders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2009, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ibm-computer-to-compete-on-jeopardy/494492/49 "2009-04-28T04:28:07Z")
> [@congodwarf](#): > > Next time, ask it the meaning of life, the universe, and everything. I asked it “Can entropy ever be reversed?” and it said “I don’t know that.” Lame. Someone should have told it to answer “THERE IS INSUFFICIENT DATA FOR A MEANINGFUL ANSWER.” I’m formally disappointed with MIT programmers now. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2009, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ibm-computer-to-compete-on-jeopardy/494492/50 "2009-04-28T16:15:45Z")
…And I didn’t even think to ask that. Shame on me. But yeah, that’s especially disappointing, given how the one thing it seems to be good at is saying “I don’t know” in many different ways. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2009, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ibm-computer-to-compete-on-jeopardy/494492/51 "2009-04-28T19:19:29Z")
I’m still being entertained by that thing. > [@](#): > > ==\> WHAT IS THE AVERAGE AIRSPEED OF AN UNLADEN SWALLOW > > What do you mean? An African or a European swallow? ---
**Author:** ![Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/half_man_half_wit/32/21766_2.png) [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2011, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ibm-computer-to-compete-on-jeopardy/494492/52 "2011-01-14T14:48:17Z")
Sorry to drag this thing back up (and possibly inadvertently ringing in the zombie sentient computer apocalypse), but Watson has just bested two human opponents – Brad Rutter and Ken Jennings – in a first training match. The official match (which is being recorded today) will be broadcast a month from now, on Feb. 14. [Story here](http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2011/01/13/ibms-jeopardy-playing-computer-tromps-human-players-in-practice-round/). Personally, I’m pretty impressed by IBM’s accomplishment – understanding the subtleties, inaccuracies and often context-dependent meaning of natural language is notoriously hard to do for a computer, and mastering the often pun-laden statements in Jeopardy is a top-level challenge in that regard. As a bonus nugget, when asked about Watson’s state of mind prior to the big match, its lead designer, David Ferrucci, said: [QUOTE=Ferrucci] Watson does not have emotion, but Waston knows that humans have emotion. [/QUOTE] …that’s, uh, comforting. ---
**Author:** ![fiddlesticks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddlesticks/32/18129_2.png) [@fiddlesticks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fiddlesticks)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2011, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ibm-computer-to-compete-on-jeopardy/494492/53 "2011-01-14T15:20:36Z")
When I first saw this headline online, I thought, @#)(\*$#)(ing spoilers, only to be relieved it was only a test game. I hope the results of the real match are successfully unspoiled until next month! Godspeed Ken & Brad. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2011, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ibm-computer-to-compete-on-jeopardy/494492/54 "2011-01-14T20:26:16Z")
Any examples of botched questions from the training match? Those are always fun to read. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2011, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ibm-computer-to-compete-on-jeopardy/494492/55 "2011-01-14T22:41:35Z")
Get used to it folks. Language processing is advancing rapidly. ---
**Author:** ![gregorio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/fbc32d/32.png) [@gregorio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gregorio)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2011, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ibm-computer-to-compete-on-jeopardy/494492/56 "2011-01-14T22:59:53Z")
I’m just so, so disappointed Watson wasn’t named, oh, Maximillian. Say, maybe the fifth iteration of that model. That test run could have been much more entertaining. ---
**Author:** ![Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/half_man_half_wit/32/21766_2.png) [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2011, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ibm-computer-to-compete-on-jeopardy/494492/57 "2011-01-15T07:25:43Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Any examples of botched questions from the training match? Those are always fun to read. Not from the match itself, but there are some corkers in [this video](http://www-03.ibm.com/innovation/us/watson/what-is-watson/why-jeopardy.html) from IBM’s site on Watson and the Jeopardy contest. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2011, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ibm-computer-to-compete-on-jeopardy/494492/58 "2011-01-15T18:15:27Z")
> [@chrisk](#): > > Okay, I may have been thinking of another trivia game show, or long ago - where the contestants could ring in early, but then had to take their chances that they’d missed something by not hearing the full question. IIRC, “Remote Control” on Mtv Sorry! What is “Remote Control”? ---
**Author:** ![fiddlesticks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddlesticks/32/18129_2.png) [@fiddlesticks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fiddlesticks)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2011, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ibm-computer-to-compete-on-jeopardy/494492/59 "2011-01-15T22:35:10Z")
Stay away from the “Technology” page on Huffington Post. Bastards. ---
**Author:** ![mr.jp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/48db29/32.png) [@mr.jp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mr.jp)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2011, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ibm-computer-to-compete-on-jeopardy/494492/60 "2011-01-16T01:41:18Z")
===\> What is the capital of assyria? I am sorry to say I don’t know what the capital of Assyria is. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ibm-computer-to-compete-on-jeopardy/494492.md?page=2)