|
|
发表于 2011-3-4 11:29:43
|
显示全部楼层
本帖最后由 zdenny0001 于 2011-3-4 11:30 编辑
VOX POPULI: That's one small defeat for man, one giant leap for computers
If I remember correctly, it was the writer Hyakken Uchida (1889-1971) who said, "Some fools know everything." I have relied on this witticism to excuse my empty head. I ask myself, "What's the use of knowing everything?" Recently, I heard a report from the United States that made me want to seek Hyakken's solace.
According to the report, the IBM supercomputer Watson achieved an overwhelming victory over two human quiz champions. It crammed knowledge equivalent to the contents of 1 million books, understood the questions, and produced answers at a speed comparable to its human opponents. "So what?" you might ask. In fact, the computer's feat is of much greater significance than you might think.
A supercomputer beat a world chess champion 14 years ago, but the recent quiz victory was far harder to achieve, experts say. Compared with chess, in which players rely on calculation to make their moves, it is far more difficult for a computer to understand questions that contain ambiguous factors and pick the right answers from an ocean of data. The machine has made a huge stride toward human-like intelligence.
With the victory of the supercomputer, the U.S. media are buzzing with stories about artificial intelligence. I remember a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor whom I once interviewed for an article. He was doing research on imbuing artificially intelligent machines with something akin to a human "mind." He publicized the project as creating something surpassing humanity.
Watson does 80 trillion calculations a second. What happens when such an astounding ability acquires a "mind?" It was a long time ago when Hyakken's teacher, Natsume Soseki (1867-1916), wrote, "Human anxiety comes from the advancement of science." It is a discerning observation befitting a man of insight.
Soseki went on to write, "Science, which moves forward and does not know when to stop, has never allowed us to stop." Some people predict that artificial intelligence will come to replace humans and engage in intellectual work by the middle of this century. The idea is interesting. When you think about it, it's scary. |
|
