| Posted by: Guru
- [330592710] Mon, Feb 14, 2011, 11:21
Tonight marks the start of the three-day tournament pitting two prodigious Jeopardy champions against the IBM computer "Watson".
IBM has posted a series of short videos chronicling the Watson project: http://www-03.ibm.com/innovation/us/watson/
Fascinating stuff. |
| 1 | JeffG Dude
ID: 01584348 Mon, Feb 14, 2011, 14:53
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I have not watched Jeopardy! in years but definitely have the DVR set for the next three nights. From everything I read "Watson" can interpret alot of language nuances, but has a weakness if the questions (or is that answers) are very short. It won a mini test-game against the two contestants it faces for real to be broadcast tonight, but it also had a few nonsense answers along the way.
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| 2 | Farn @ work
ID: 391271411 Tue, Feb 15, 2011, 11:57
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How did this go last night?
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| 3 | weykool
ID: 138481617 Tue, Feb 15, 2011, 12:24
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They only got through single Jeopardy but the computer did pretty good. There are some obvious programming problems as Watson gave the same incorrect answer that Jennings gave on one question.
The current scores: Jennings 2,000 Watson 5,000 The other guy 5,000
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| 4 | Guru
ID: 330592710 Tue, Feb 15, 2011, 12:37
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Yes, It appears that Watson is not aware of incorrect answers given by other contestants. But he was very impressive, nonetheless.
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| 5 | Great One
ID: 3414219 Tue, Feb 15, 2011, 12:45
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Its amazing to me that he can make sense of a Jeopardy question which can many times be a riddle.
I get how you can program a computer to answer a question like - "First U.S. President" thats simple and I'm sure he'd get it right. But some of the questions and categories on Jeopardy read like riddles... how it processes those is fascinating to me.
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| 6 | Skidazl
ID: 3253219 Tue, Feb 15, 2011, 16:42
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I thought it was going to be a blowout for the first 15 questions, I think Waton was up like 5000 to 2, but the second 15, more "riddle" like questions he seemed to falter and missed a few..
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| 7 | JeffG
ID: 47112621 Tue, Feb 15, 2011, 22:18
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Day 2 saw Watson romp. There were mostly general knowledge questions and not many or any word play or riddles. Watson ended with a $25K+ lead over his opponents. Interestingly enough, the humans both got the final Jeopardy answer right to double up for the day, and Watson was incorrect but barely wagered with a big lead. The category was US Cities and asked what city has its largest airport named for a World War II hero and a second airport named for a World War II battle. Both humans correctly responded with Chicago, but Watson answered Toronto.
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| 8 | R9
ID: 2854239 Wed, Feb 16, 2011, 03:46
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I missed Day 1, but Watson sure was impressive in Day 2. The final Jeopardy miss was rather funny, as was his first Daily Double; he wagered 6,435$ or some similar weird number. No idea how he came up with that.
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| 9 | weykool
ID: 3716166 Wed, Feb 16, 2011, 07:06
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US Cities....Toronto? I guess Watson was nervous on his first Final Jeopardy.
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| 10 | Building 7 Leader
ID: 171572711 Wed, Feb 16, 2011, 13:27
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Sometimes they all know the answer, and whoever buzzes in first gets it. Is Watson able to buzz in a microsecond sooner because its a computer? If you buzz in too soon, you get locked out for awhile. I think you have to wait until Alex is done reading the question. I have not seen this tournament.
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| 11 | Great One
ID: 461381611 Wed, Feb 16, 2011, 14:30
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I also wonder who gets to buzz in quickest... how could the one contestant always be buzzing in quickest when all 3 clearly know the answer and are trying to buzz in as soon as they possibly can.
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| 12 | Guru
ID: 330592710 Wed, Feb 16, 2011, 14:49
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From Ken Jennings' website:Here's how it works: the buzzers don't get activated until Alex is finished reading each question. If you buzz in too early, the system actually locks you out for a fifth of a second or so. But if you're too late, the player next to you is going to get in first. Somewhere between too early and too late is a very narrow sweet spot, like swinging a tennis racket or a baseball bat. No, that's not right. The Jeopardy! buzzer, she is like a woman. No, that's not it either. All I know is, the more I thought about the timing, the less I could nail it. When I could somehow just Zen out and not think about what I was doing, I would do okay. Watson uses the exact same type of buzzer as the human contestants, with a mechanical interface. So somehow, he must receive a signal that the question has been read. That seems like an advantage for the computer, which can exercise precision timing in that regard.
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| 15 | DWetzel
ID: 31111810 Tue, Mar 01, 2011, 22:03
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Saw that on Fox, except headline says Rush Holt (R) beats Watson. ;)
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| 16 | Perm Dude
ID: 5510572522 Tue, Mar 01, 2011, 22:06
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Heh.
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