One of the most impressive recent feats of computer engineering and software design
is IBM's Watson
Question Answering (QA) computer.
In 2011, Watson competed on the US television quiz show
Jeopardy against two
human players,
Brad Rutter, the biggest all-time money winner and
Ken Jennings,
the record holder for the most number of consecutive wins (74).
Accessing over 200 million pages of content consuming 4 terabytes, Watson
beat the humans and won a million dollars in prize money, which IBM then
donated
to charity.
Though at times making mistakes, nevertheless Watson's speed at answering and
his breadth of knowledge at other times would be characteristic of what many would
regard as genius. Many times, breathtakingly so.
If you have not seen Watson in action, be prepared to be dazzled and charmed.
The documentary is shown on SBS ONE on Sunday 21 Oct 12 20:30 AEDT (NSW, Vic).
For those that can't wait or who miss the program, it is also available on YouTube
in four parts, part one being here -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Gpaf...=results_video
Also be sure to watch the Jeopardy episodes where Watson competes -
Day 1 starts here -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5C7j...eature=related