Watson - IBM's "question-answering" machine (potential implications for libraries?)

From: B.G. Sloan <bgsloan2_at_nyob> Date: Mon, 7 Feb 2011 08:15:50 -0800 To: NGC4LIB_at_LISTSERV.ND.EDU

From the New York Times:

"I.B.M.’s groundbreaking question-answering system, running on roughly 2,500 parallel processor cores, each able to perform up to 33 billion operations a second, is playing a pair of 'Jeopardy!' matches against the show’s top two living players, to be aired on Feb. 14, 15 and 16."

I'm definitely going to be tuning in to these Jeopardy episodes. I'm curious to see how well "Watson" does against two smart humans.

Can't help but wonder about long-term implications for libraries, say, ten years down the road? What if we had sophisticated affordable "question-answering" machines in ten years? What would that mean for libraries?

For some background, here's a link to an Op Ed piece in today's New York Times: From the New York Times: http://nyti.ms/g6J9Xe

And here's a longer piece from the NY Times Magazine from last summer:  http://nyti.ms/idJlpe

Bernie Sloan