Recently, a celebrity of the highest order visited the engineering school where I work. Not Bill Gates or Mark Zuckerberg. It was none other than Watson, arguably the most famous piece of technology created in the last decade.
Watson’s star power was on full display, filling not only our largest auditorium, but also two overflow rooms we had set aside just in case a few extra folks showed up. What a testament to where we are today; our own recent history has shown that not even astronauts can draw budding engineers the way Watson can.
IBM’s latest celebrity computer gained fame when he (or is it she?) took on the two greatest winners in the history of the long-running game show Jeopardy in a three-day battle of the octagon with $1 million going to the winner.
Brad Rutter, all-time money winner, and Ken Jennings, record-holder for longest championship streak, seemed to have a huge advantage. The game is a wicked combination of two competing and quite demanding skills -- instantly intuiting the meaning behind cryptic clues across a wide range of random categories combined with the rapid retrieval of often esoteric and obscure facts. This was truly David versus Goliath, but what made this good TV was that no one really knew who was the real David or the real Goliath.
It turned out to be a big ratings winner for the show and network, pulling in a hefty 9.1 percent of the surveyed TVs. Why the fascination? Well, Jeopardy is not only part of American culture, but the show also puts on display the amazing abilities of humans keen on being the biggest know-it-all in the nation.
Fortunately for IBM and its shareholders, Watson emerges as the dominant player -- amassing more winnings than both Rutter and Jennings combined. Of course, it wasn’t certain at the outset. Day one ended with Watson and Rutter tied for the lead, providing the cliffhanger the producers had hoped for. But like Deep Blue versus Kasparov years before, the consistent humming drive of Watson seemed to emotionally exhaust the human competitors over the final two days.
I couldn't believe how much media attention Watson grabbed during the Jeopardy appearance. Applying Watson's smart processing power to attack the big data problem in the medical diagnostic field seems to have endless possibilities. Is there any specific project or event planned for Watson's medical field debut or has IBM just said that's the next frontier for the technology?
Geof, Watson is a great candidate for medical applications. For years, expert systems, of which Watson is an advanced example of, have been touted for medical applications. They have in fact proven themselves. The issue is liability. From my own experience, and that of others, we would all be better off if computers used more often in medical diagnosis.
I agree that Watson is great for the initial research but I don't see computers replacing human intuition and experience in the trail stages.
This article brings to mind a lecture I heard that explored how humanity can't keep up with its own progress. We've found so many answers in the late 20th and early 21st century but we're not sure what the questions are. Using computers like Watson may get the right questions out there to lead to better advancement.
Medical is a great application for Watson. It will be interesting to see whether doctors will be willing to utilize Watson. It will also be interesting to see whether the insurance industry requires its use in order to reduce risk.
Medical applications do seem to be an ideal match for this type of advanced software technology. Lots of facts and data that can be analyzed and the need for advanced algorithms to quickly comb through large amounts of data. Will be interesting to see the "practical approaches" to using this kind of technology, especially given liability concerns and the need the absolute need for a personalized approach to medical diagnosis.
I agree, Apresher. It will also be interesting to see how medical professionals accept this tool. Will they see it as a helpful diagnostic tool or will they see it as a threat.
Watson also reminds us of its name source, Thomas Watson of IBM. These days Watson's name is eclipsed by Jobs, Gates and Zuckerberg, but he played a huge role in the history of computing.
As we design more and more complex machines, we become more and more confident in our ability to repair these machines. Ultimately we all become humbled when trying to either explain or listen to a set of symptoms regarding an illness of one of the most comlex creations in the universe. Good diagnosticians spend la ifetime studying every aspect of physiology and following research in the medical field and yet frequently mis-diagnose the simplest of maladies. Properly applied, Watson will be a tool to assist the physician in diagnosis and treatment. But ultimately, the decision will be in the hands of the Doctor. We should exercise due caution when empowering our health-care payers (not providers!) on how to determine what treatment is most appropriate. Given the current condition of our health care system and the organizations trying to run it, the concept of a "Watson" scares the heck out of me. We need a Watson, but we need to be very careful how we use it.
When they make a computer that turns on instantly, never forgets my email or printer settings and is immune to hacking and viruses I will be impressed. Watson is just an extension of current computing practice with some fancy programming.
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