In Kurt Vonnegut’s chapter of Player Piano, there is a brief discussion of “the third revolution”. Dr. Proteus tells his assistant, “In a way, I guess the third one’s (revolution) been going on for some time, if you mean thinking machines. That would be the third revolution, I guess- machines that devaluate human thinking.” Dr. Proteus may have been talking about a revolution in a fictional world, but the rise of machines that can replace, or replicate, human thinking is very much relevant in reality.
For the past few week, technology blogs have been a-buzz with reviews of the newly-released iPhone 4S and its new feature, Siri. In case you haven’t heard of Siri, yet, “she” is voice-activated software that can carry out tasks like send reminders, suggest restaurants, and call contacts. Furthermore, Apple says that that more you use Siri, the more she knows about you, and the more she is able to tailor results to your preferences.
In a similar vein, Watson, IBM’s supercomputer that beat out Jeopardy champions last February, is capable of recognizing a spoken question, determining the intent of that question, and then finding the answer. Now, after Watson proved itself on the national stage, IBM is putting it to work and marketing Watson as a potential diagnostic partner for doctors.
Obviously, the kinks in artificial intelligence technology need to be worked out. Already, there are thousands of YouTube videos dedicated to weird things that Siri says, and Watson answered a question in the “U.S. Cities” category with “What is Toronto?” The technology is not perfect. Yet. The point is that the so-called “Third Revolution” is upon us, and with the usefulness and marketability of artificial intelligence software programs, Siri and Watson are not going away anytime soon.
Sources:
http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/312868?tp=1
http://www.apple.com/iphone/ios/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/danny-groner/watsons-ijeopardyi-win-wh_b_825633.html
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