PART 1 • Some thoughts on kasparov vs. Deep blue
You click a button marked « Treatment » on the screen and after another database search, you finally get the answer you need:
« Chicken Soup »
Aside from the fact that you ' re now quacking like a duck, « doctor », I ' m sure you see the potential here. Such a computer / program would be an invaluable tool to the medical profession. My kid nephew is extremely sick right now, has been for months, and nobody can figure out what ' s wrong with him. I would love for the doctors to be able to utilize an interactive tool like this one and cure this kid today.
Of course, we saw how this « miracle » device works. Through a combination of database searching and interactive questioning( an active function of the program ' s set of instructions, or « heuristics ») you get a sort of « doctor ' s helper », able to unravel the knotty problems facing members of the medical profession.
We call these computers / programs « expert systems ». It ' s a way to digitize expert knowledge in a particular field of endeavor and make that knowledge available to less skilled individuals.
With a little thought, we can imagine other applications for this technology. Engineers can use expert systems to better design everything from stronger bridges to more aerodynamic NASCAR vehicles. Palentologists could type in the mineral composition of a plot of ground as well as the depth at which to search and come up with a probability of fossils being discovered there. The same process could be used in the search for fossil fuels. The possibilities are astounding.
CHESS EXPERT SYSTEMS?
Deep Blue used the two functions we ' ve discussed( database search and heuristic questioning) to defeat the world ' s strongest human player. It asked itself questions to evaluate positions and simultaneously conducted database searches to look for similar positions.
Can this primitive expert systems technology be adapted to other, more important fields of endeavor? Only time will tell but the future looks bright.
But what about the chessplayers who feel let down and cheated by the fact that a big chunk of silicon just trashed the world ' s best carbon-based chessplayer? What ' s going to happen to chessplayers after IBM packs up its chess toy and moves on to these more vital areas of research?
43 chessking. com