Ultimately, Watson is an extremely efficient answer-producing machine. That's what it makes: answers. Is Watson "competing" at Jeopardy! if it doesn't know if it wins or if it loses, if its wrong or if its right?
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Yes, in the sense that the person who put Watson in Jepordy makes it a competitor. However on it's own, no. Watson is not a competetitor, because Watson is programmed to give answers, it doesn't know that it is answering questions for money, it has no use for money. It just relays answers because that's what it is made to do.
ReplyDeleteLike what the statement said on the top "efficient answer-producing machine" which means that it was programmed by a person to do that certain task. However, if Watson plays jeopardy then it is seen as a opponent.
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ReplyDeleteIt is competing with the humans but it doesn't gain the benefits or impedments one obtains while in a competition. It will never experience the thrill of winning and the crushing feeling of loss, and will never grow from it.It does not see the value in human wealth so in essance it does not understand that it is competing even though the humans surrounding him are.
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ReplyDeleteCompetitions are all about winning. As long as there is a potential for Watson to be wrong and for the other competitors to answer before him, then It is definitely competing. Remember that Watson also stumbled at some point in the competition when he answered, "What is Toronto?????", so of course he's not giving out perfect answers.
I believe that if one looks from the perspective of Watson, no, it is not competing. It was simply doing what it was programmed to do - answer questions. "Competing," according to dictionary.com, means "to strive to outdo another for acknowledgment, a prize, supremacy, profit, etc." however I do not believe that Watson had much choice to be on the show, nor the emotional capacity to feel the need to strive for anything.
ReplyDeleteYes, a competition is an event to see who or what is "better" at something.
ReplyDeleteWatson has a database of factual information. To Watson that information is correct until told otherwise. Which makes a game show an interesting test ground. You could argue that humans have their own database of knowledge and what they consider to be right or wrong. The way that the game show works, would also tell Watson whether it was right or wrong. Watson isn't perfect, it is not all-knowing. Its these flaws and "reaction times" (buzzer pressing) that give some leeway for humans, but yes Watson is a competitor.
I don't think Watson was competing because like you said it doesn't know if it's right or wrong. One could say Watson was playing a game for fun. Not for competition or a prize but because that was what it was programmed to do.
ReplyDeleteRather then Watson who was competing, I believe the people who created Watson were the ones competing in Jeopardy!. Watson, as an emotionless computer, was competing against humans who can consider and decide which answer is correct. Watson was facing two human players instead of another super computer, therfore making it a competition between humans and computers. Ultimately, Watson was not competing, rather its creator was.
ReplyDeleteNo, technically Watson is not competing. Watson is only an answer-producing machine. It does not have the intention of winning or losing, while others compete at Jeopardy! to win.
ReplyDeleteWatson is a contestant in Jeopardy! even if it is a robot. It may not know or understand that it's winning or losing or right or wrong, but it's still competing against others. For example, when someone goes through a class at school and hands in work every week or so and won't know if they passed or not until the end, is a very similar scenario. The right and wrong is the marks you get and the winning and losing is is you pass or not. You may not know until the end of the semester. Even though you find out later and you're some-what aware, you're still not sure for a good chunk of it, but you're still participating. Just as Watson was.
ReplyDeleteI believe in Watson's perspective, no, it is not competing because it is programmed to answer questions. But in the other 2 contestants' perspective, it is a competition because the have an emotion or passion to win. This is also like playing a game against the computer, when the computer is your opponent typically you don't say the computer is competing against you.
ReplyDeleteI believe Watson is not competing at Jeopardy because the purpose of competition is to win and if Watson is unaware of that, there is no competition. Watson is just giving answers to the questions with no intention of winning the game.
ReplyDeleteI think Watson knew he was competing at Jeopardy because i saw the news report on that and Watson was being cautious with some bets with his money. but in the end i dont think he knew when the game was over i think he was just waiting for the next question untill he was unplugged
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