Day 187

We have been watching Jeopardy the last couple of days because Watson, the computer, is on playing against two humans.  It's actually really amazing that they computer can comprehend the questions and come up with answers. I just keep picturing it doing a google search on everything, which seems kind of unfair.

Rick says it's not fair because the computer can process the question faster than the humans because the question is just downloaded onto Watson all at once and the humans have to wait for their eyes to read it.  I think he might be right, because Watson just kept beating the humans to buzz in.  The humans might have known the answer, but they didn't have a chance because Watson always buzzed in first.

The real reason I like to watch it, though, is because at the bottom of the screen they show Watson's top three answers and the percentage correct he thinks they are.  He had a couple of crazy things come up.  For one question the answer was supposed to be a decade (ie. 80's, 90's, etc.) and one of Watson's possible answers was 'Lyon' haha.  The best one was the final jeopardy question... The question was, which U.S. City's largest airport is named after a WWII hero and 2nd largest is named after a WWII battle?  Watson's answer: Toronto.  Toronto is not a U.S. city... Toronto is in Canada lol.  That had to be embarrassing for his maker's.

Anyway, Watson came back in the second day and won by like $50,000, so I supposed they made a few tweaks and redeemed themselves.  I heard a story on NPR about how people were freaking out that Watson was the beginning of computers taking over the world and making human's their slaves.  What a bunch of nut jobs.  Watson think Toronto is in the US  he clearly has a ways to go before he reaches world domination.