A few weeks ago, on February 14th, Watson, a super computer from IBM, made his debut on the television show Jeopardy. After three days of competition, he won $77,147. His two opponents won $24,000 and $21,600. They weren't even close.
Yesterday Watson tried again against some of our Congressmen in Washington. According to the Wall Street Journal's Washington Wire Blog and the Asbury Park Press (Asbury Park, New Jersey), this time Watson lost. Watson lost to Representative Rush Holt, a New Jersey Democrat. Representative Holt was a five-time Jeopardy winner more than 30 years ago. He commented that Watson was "just a little Atari."
According to Representative Holt's website:
Rep. Holt earned his B.A. in Physics from Carleton College in Minnesota and completed his Master's and Ph.D. at NYU. He has held positions as a teacher, Congressional Science Fellow, and arms control expert at the U.S. State Department where he monitored the nuclear programs of countries such as Iraq, Iran, North Korea, and the former Soviet Union. From 1989 until he launched his 1998 congressional campaign, Holt was Assistant Director of the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, the largest research facility of Princeton University and the largest center for research in alternative energy in New Jersey. He has conducted extensive research on alternative energy and has his own patent for a solar energy device.
That explains a lot! It's nice to know that a human can actually defeat a computer on Jeopardy.
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