June 24, 2010

SkyNet--Please Call Your Agent



The geniuses at IBM's research lab in Hawthorne, NY have been working hard on a new supercomputer called Watson.  This computer is so smart that it is actually beating real live humans' at Jeopardy.  It evens answers in the form of a question!   This thing is so good that it has been freaking the other contestants out, leading to all sorts of nervous SkyNet jokes about when it will gain consciousness and nuke their nerdy ass.  


There's a lengthy article about this super-duper computer from last week's TIMES Sunday magazine. It's worth reading if you are a techno-junkie or techno-phobe.  There's exciting and disturbing news here for both camps.