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

I'm really hoping that people read the articles I cited before commenting on this project. I think it's easy to dismiss until you read these articles, which explain how complicated this particular task is.
 
And also, please note that my basic question was not that IBM's "Watson" might replace libraries/librarians. I asked:
 
"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?"
 
Bernie Sloan

--- On Mon, 2/7/11, Deborah Johnson <djohnso3_at_D.UMN.EDU> wrote:


From: Deborah Johnson <djohnso3_at_D.UMN.EDU>
Subject: Re: [NGC4LIB] Watson - IBM's "question-answering" machine (potential implications for libraries?)
To: NGC4LIB_at_LISTSERV.ND.EDU
Date: Monday, February 7, 2011, 1:04 PM


Sounds like Trivial Pursuit.  I'll be more impressed with a contest where a
computer has to find the elusive video, "The ups and downs of Lake Superior"
and bib references to how Medieval scholars viewed Beowulf.  (Makes me think
of the end of  the movie "Desk Set.")

Deb Johnson
=============================================
On Mon, Feb 7, 2011 at 10:15 AM, B.G. Sloan <bgsloan2_at_yahoo.com> wrote:

> 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
>
>
>
>
>
>
>


-- 
Deborah Johnson
Cataloger
Library
University of Minnesota, Duluth
416 Library Drive
Duluth, MN   55812

218-726-7885
djohnso3_at_d.umn.edu