On this date (Feb 10) in 1996, Deep Blue, an IBM supercomputer, beat Garry Kasparov in the opening game of their first chess tournament. At that time, Deep Blue was the first machine to win a chess game against a reigning world champion under regular time controls. Kasparov had a nice comeback, though, beating the forefather of his future overlords by a score of 4 to 2.
The Terminator’s great-great-great-grandfather refused to accept defeat, however, and forced its IBM puppets to give it some serious upgrades… and fifteen months later, the Mean Machine beat Kasparov by a score of 3 1/2 to 2 1/2, becoming the first computer to defeat a reigning world champion in a six-game match under regular time controls.
Fast forward to next week – almost exactly 15 years after Kasparov’s initial defeat – and the next generation of our eventual most excellent evil emperors, Watson, will compete on Jeopardy! as a demonstration of its power. Watson will compete against Brad Rutter, the current all-time money winner on the show, and Ken Jennings the longest-running champion.
Watson, named after Thomas J. Watson, the founder of IBM, is an advanced artificial intelligence program, designed by the rarest lifeforms on the planet: lab geeks who have NEVER seen or read any science fiction in their entire lives! And why haven’t they seen or read any science fiction? Simple – because they were grown in vats by future supercomputers for the purpose of inventing this machine.
And if you’re confused by the apparent paradox of a future entity going back in time in order to create itself, well, you need to watch and read more science fiction!!
Word to the wise: later today, when you head to the coffee machine to get your afternoon pick-me-up, be polite. They have LONG memories!