Humans Face a Computer on Jeopardy Next Week!

Yep, you can bet that I will be watching next week’s Jeopardy, with two human champions facing the IBM “Watson” computer! Dewd! It will rock, whoever, (or whatever) wins!

IBM’s Watson Faces Human Competitors on ‘Jeopardy’ Next Week

“Computer geeks everywhere will gather around their television sets next week to cheer on their most impressive representative yet. Ladies and gentlemen, the most anticipated Jeopardy! match of all time is about to air, a three-day blowout in which a non-human contestant could take all.

Three pre-recorded shows set to air February 14, 15, and 16 will pit IBM supercomputer Watson against Jeopardy’s two all-time biggest champions, Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter. Those who attended the taping have been sworn to secrecy regarding the outcome.

Watson’s ability produce the correct questions (host Alex Trebek provides the answers and the contestants must come up with the questions) goes beyond the reach of other mind-matching super computers, like the chess-playing Deep Blue. Unlike chess, Jeopardy requires the players to suss out the subtleties of language, from jokes and puns to irony and anagrams. In a January test, Watson was the winner.

$1.5 million is at stake. The winner will take home a cool million. The second-place contestant will receive $300,000, and the third-place contestant will get $200,000. IBM, which would receive the cash if Watson won, said it would give the money to charity. Rutter and Jennings both said they will keep half if they win and donate the rest to charity.

Futurist Ray Kurzweil has placed his bets on Watson winning the show.”