“Watson” the IBM computer and Jeopardy

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Today’s Blog Post


“Watson” the IBM computer and Jeopardy

As the program opened last evening it was not the ordinary bank of players strutting their stuff. It was the popular “Jeopardy” with the three guests trying to “out question” each other… and who could do it faster.

If you are not a Jeopardy follower you won’t understand. The host reads the answer and the players have to form the original question. It is a bit twisted from the normal knowledge based kind of game. Here you need to have knowledge and then very quickly deduce the right question and answer, “What is *…..*?

Last night may have been one of those corner turning kind of events as the new computer, named “Watson”, took on the top two Jeopardy Champions of all time. These Champions had each won close to a million dollars a few years back. However last night Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter, the Champs, didn’t do so well. “Watson” kind of computed them to death in the first round of this week.

It was quite fascinating to follow the rapid answering of the computer. Sometimes it was so fast that the guys beside it blinked… and other times Watson’s rapid fire lost completely… with answers that were so far off that it was funny.

At the bottom of the TV screen there was a response offered each time into Watson’s possible answer – and the percentages that it thought were possibly right answers. That part was amazing to watch.

Some things behind the scenes that make this story interesting for me.

“Watson” the computer is named after Thomas J. Watson, the founder of IBM… the huge computer giant and business machine company.

Thomas Watson’s personal story is amazing to say the least.

A man by the name of John H. Patterson had pioneered a powerful business machine company entitled “National Cash Register” or NCR. NCR was dominant in all that it did in the world of business.

Patterson was a little weird – some people use the word eccentric.

Paterson rose every morning (around 4:00 AM) and then headed for his horse stables. He would mount the horse and ride for an hour before breakfast. Then eat and be off to work.

As NCR grew, each person that Patterson hired as a leader/executive was expected to be at the stable each morning. They were at his bid and fancy.

Most of the executives that he hired were young men off the street, so to speak. As Patterson traveled on the railway a lot back and forth between Dayton, Ohio and New York City, the train stopped at each place along the way. This allowed passengers on board to get off and stretch their legs etc.

Patterson would walk along the platform, spot a young man working at some menial task, watch him and then approach the fellow. In a matter of minutes he would hire the boy as a next executive for his monster company.

Patterson knew people. He was an excellent judge of character - instantly.

He would take the young man from a station platform to a barber shop. He would have him shaved and his hair cut just so. Then he would have him to a tailor’s shop where he was measured for a perfectly fitted suit. Next he would have the young man follow his strict regime, horse stables and riding, eating together, and following Patterson in all that he did. Patterson “made the Men” into what he wanted them to be.

However, when the men were too sharp or questioned Patterson’s actions, he fired them. They were a danger to his empire. That is where Patterson was weird.

Thomas J. Watson was the kind of man that thought for himself. He was fired by Patterson.

From that place, after being well trained and disciplined, he started the International Business Machine company – IBM… which became hundreds of times bigger and better than NCR.

I worked for NCR for 10 years and came to know the story very well. The people I worked for were not quite like Patterson… but in 1966 you still were not allowed to have a moustache or sideburns. It was a Patterson rule that stuck and was never removed.

So watching the machine “Watson” outsmart its human competitors was just too good for me. Thomas J. Waston was smiling again as his abilities were now coming out in the new and much younger experts behind the scenes… a hole room full of men and women that had built this new competitor “Watson”.

For years the movies have had a number of Computers that “thought” and answered human commands. Star Trek’s onboard computer was my first example with Captain Kirk talking to it.

Last night was a turning point in my life again. The world has changed in a big way.

In Japan they have built a Robot that is beautiful. She responds to your touch and expressions – with her own expressions. Up to now she is pretty much only a quiet hostess.. or a date. Now with Watson’s ability placed into her, the date with the Robot will be different. She will respond in ways that you have never expected.

Whoa! Wait a minute… that is not new. My wife does more than that now. She is smarter. She is faster. She is faster than speeding bullet in all that she does. And when you go on a date together – she responds in amazing ways!

As amazing as Watson proved to be, my wife was answering the hosts question as fast as the top players and almost as fast as Watson.

Last night my world changed again.

~ Murray Lincoln ~
http://www.murraylincoln.com/  

Resource
The man names Waston
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_J._Watson
The Computer called Watson
http://www.ibm.com/ibm100/us/en/icons/watson/

Interview with Ken and Brad after the first game with Watson
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-12464447