As I read Brian’s most recent Discussion post, I was interested in the whole “Jeopardy!” computer vs. humans contest. As I read an article about the topic on CNN.com, I saw that CNN actually quoted a “Facebook fan.”

     It makes me wonder, “How in the world is “Joe Shmo”, a fan of “Jeopardy!” on Facebook, a credible enough source to quote in a CNN article? This “fan”, Tate Hinkle, posted:

                    “I think the only thing this challenge proves is that
                     the computer is faster at ringing in than Brad or Ken,
                     not smarter.”

      Really? Do you, Tate, not understand the complexity it takes to teach a computer to be super smart? You know it’s all 1’s and 0’s, right? As an engineer who has to write a lot of code to program microcontrollers, I can assure you, Tate, that any rookie programming code can make said code perform hundreds of commands and decisions in the tens of milliseconds that it even takes a human to push a button.

       Also, I don’t know, but I’m sure the computer was designed to represent a person.  In that case, the computer would have to realize it had an answer to give and then initiate some sort of solenoid to actually push the button.

       True, computers can only be as smart as the people who program them; but the “people” (by “people” I mean “history”) that program them have several decades of knowledge and innovation stored in their “file”. In other words, programming a computer today is a joint effort between generations. Having said that, the computer was smarter than Ken and Brad combined (obviously, since it smoked them!) but it is still not smarter than the human race, and it never will be.

     So my point is:

      CNN,

               Please do not quote some random person, who may or may not have any experience or intellect in the computer/programming relam, just because they posted their opinion.  Quantity of words does not make your article good, solid content does. Why have you stooped so low as to quote a “Facebook user”? Tisk tisk, CNN!

     Sincerely,

             Common Sense.