Would You Like to Play a Game?

Cover of WarGames [Region 2]

I watched War Games with my oldest this weekend.  I had told her about it previously and she was interested in the game Thermo-Nuclear War.  Joshua, the computer in the movie, sadly, didn't seem to interest her as much as the computer in real life, but she half watched it. 

I think part of her lack of interest comes from never feeling the chill of the Cold War.  The whole world being destroyed by nuclear missles was a very real fear in the 80's.  As she is growing up in the age of computers the thought of a computer learning doesn't phaze her either, all though she is well aware that computers and robots will one day rise up against us if the zombie apocolypse doesn't happen first. 

The movie aged well with me though.  Matthew Broderick still looks 16 and what ever happened to Ally Sheedy?  I can look back at the history of it all and identify with it.  I have used computers where you had to dial in to get another computer.  Actually, I may appreciate this movie more as an adult.  It had a message without being overly preachy.

How about a nice game of chess?

Mr. Watson, Come Here

"Mr. Watson, Come Here."  It is the phrase that started the information age.  Alexander Graham Bell spoke these words as the first transmission over a phone.  Mr. Watson has taken on a new meaning as of the writing of this article.  Watson is now a supercomputer.  In the very eightiesesque definition. Watson is actually a server room. Yes, he is a computer that takes up a whole room.  So, why is this important?

Watson has been programmed to play Jeopardy.  Not a Google search type of thing; Watson has been filled with knowledge and programmed to interpret the clues and come up with answers.  He is also programmed to know what he knows and know what he doesn't.  He will not try to answer unless he is sure.  He selects categories and makes informed decisions on wagering.  In short, Watson thinks.  He thinks well, too.  After one round of play, Watson is tied for the lead.  He has made some bonehead mistakes, but it is still scary.

Artificial intelligence has made a huge leap forward here.  It is now a much smaller leap to searching for Sarah Conner and attempting to kill Dave and his palls on their mission to Jupiter.  I know that the evil computer trope has been done until it is tired, but this isn't science fiction.  This is reality. I worry about anything or anyone that can think but not feel.  Maybe Watson and his positronic brain will never be a threat to humanity and will follow the three laws of robotics. I bet it could quote the three laws but doubt he was programmed to obey them.

So this week we make a huge step forward.  Maybe it is a step to future and maybe it is a step to being enslaved as biological batteries, but science is not going backwards with this.  Whatever is going to happen has now been set into motion.  I for one bow down to my new computer overlord.

Be sure to watch Watson in action on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week on Jeopardy.  Watch as humanity becomes obsolete.