CONFRONTING THE BEAST:
SOME THOUGHTS ON
KASPAROV VS. DEEP BLUE
(Originally published by Steve Lopez in May 1997)
It's been just over 24 hours as I sit and type these words and I'm still waiting patiently for Doomsday to hit. As I look out the window of my basement office, I can see that the leaves are finally out on the two maple trees
in the yard and that the grass is still green (and badly in need of cutting.
«Doomsday» at my house comes when I see giant anacondas slithering
through the tall grass and I realize that I can't put off mowing the lawn any
longer). The view of the yard looks the same as it did two days ago, before Kasparov lost Game Six, and I expect that it will look much the same
tomorrow. I can infer from this that Doomsday ain't coming.
I've been avidly reading the posts on the Usenet chess newsgroups for
over a day now. Those that are posting fall generally into two camps:
those that think humankind irretrievably lost something yesterday when
Garry tipped his King and those that don't understand what the fuss is all
about. Count me in the latter category.
I have a somewhat different take on computers than many people. I guess
I can chalk that up to the time in which I was born. I'm old enough to remember what it was like when nobody except universities and large corporations had access to computers, but young enough to not be intimidated by the dang things. I bought my first PC in 1992; in fact, I'm typing
these words on the same PC right now. I bought it for one reason (and
never mind what I told my wife): to play chess. But a month after I bought
the box, I had an epiphany of sorts while reading a book on information
theory. I realized that a computer, by definition, by design, is a tool. Nothing more, nothing less. It's a bit more complex and versatile than a screwdriver but you can pretty much lump it into the same category. If I have
a job to do, I need the correct tool. If I need to put together bikes for my
kids I use a screwdriver. If I need to put together an analysis sheet on the
hideous opening Kasparov played in yesterday's game I use a computer.
Now before someone takes me to task for saying that the World Chess
Champion just lost a match to an electronic screwdriver, let's approach
the thesis from a different angle. Bear with me here and keep the «tool»
analogy in mind as we go along.
THE BIRTH OF A NEW TOOL
No, it's not the Binford Rocket Boy 9000 speed drill with four-speed reverse motor and adjustable chuck. It's something even more manly. Let's
all grunt together as we read the following quote:
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