+252 The people at IBM spent years and possibly billions of dollars to develop a computer that can play jeopardy. Isn't that sort of what's wrong with society today? "Alright guys we have infinite money and amazing technology should we try to cure cancer? Nah you're right, feed the millions of starving kids in Africa? Nah that's a waste. I know, let's build something that can play jeopardy!", amirite?

by Anonymous 12 years ago

IBM's job is to make computers. You don't see janitors performing open heart surgery.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Thank you. I believe people need to do some research on things before they post them.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

The point of the post was to say what they spent their money doing instead of the far more beneficial things they could have done with it.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

You realize they're a fucking company, right? Their job is to earn money, not feed starving kids in Africa.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

There are other, more qualified people (like medical doctors) to cure/research cancer. As an aside, clearly you have no real understanding of what infinite money is, but I can tell you for sure that IBM does not have that much. Arguably feeding the starving kids of Africa is a waste. Wouldn't that just lead to more overpopulation, on a scale even grander than it is now? Clearly you have no imagination. In building a computer that can play Jeopardy, IBM built a machine that is able (with relative success) to understand the English language and to search through incredible amounts of information to provide the desired nugget. You can't think of any other possible use for this? Like, say, to help diagnose patients in hospitals or suggest treatment? http://www.geekosystem.com/watson-computer-price/

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Yup I was actually going to say something similar to this. I attended the conference IBM had for IBM workers and family or IT students and they mentioned all the other things you could use Watson for... but I'm pretty sure all that information is a search engine away... google may not be Watson, but I'm sure you'll get your answer op

by Anonymous 13 years ago

What about the starving kids that aren't in Africa? >.>

by Anonymous 13 years ago

That annoys me to no end. How people mention the starving kids in Africa. Not all of Africa is a desert wasteland.It's like they don't know that there's starving PEOPLE(not just kids) in all parts of the world.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Agreed! Let's focus on perfecting our own country before we go trying to fix everyone else. This is Americas problem...you can't help others until you can help yourself. 35.9 million people live below the poverty line in America, including 12.9 million children. Percentage and number of poor children: 18.9 percent (13.5 million) Children make up 39 percent of the poor and 26 percent of the total population. The poverty rate for children is higher than for any other age group. http://www.soundvision.com/Info/poor/statistics.asp

by Anonymous 13 years ago

"I do not want to live in a world where we only focus on suck, and never think about awesome." -Hank Green

by Anonymous 13 years ago

By this logic, why should we try to make any progress aside from medicine? Don't get me wrong, medicine is extremely important, but that doesn't mean we have to focus everything we do on medical research.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Exactly. All that will happen is more people will live and overpopulation will be rampant. I say we improve and enjoy the lives we have without wasting them by trying to elongate them.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Money is not the problem, it's a lack of manpower and conflicts with local government.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

If you knew the real purpose of WATSON, then you'd think differently. WATSON's function was tested by playing Jeopardy: to search through a huge amount of information (in the English language, not code) and produce a single result that answers the question (or in this case asks the question to the answer). IBM's final intent for the computer was to help doctors diagnose patients.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Yeah, and how do you think we have the technology we do today? Because decades ago, some guys got together and said "Hey, let's build a machine that adds two numbers together!"

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Watson's purpose wasn't to play jeopardy. It's just that jeopardy happened to be an excellent setting to show off it's capabilities.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Exactly.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

? Did you happen to pick up your username from Mugglenet?

by Anonymous 13 years ago

No. Just for here!!

by Anonymous 13 years ago

My best friends dad happened to be someone who worked on this computer. He said that technology is advancing, and that a computer can be built to compete against real humans and win. It's innovation. In 20 years, we will be able to do more because they were able to do this. Just like how 50 years ago, they built simple computers that helped build more complex computers later.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

This is so similar to people who think evolution is 'by chance.' They didn't just make Watson because they were like, "Jeopardy is cool! Herpety derpety." No. It's because of future uses like diagnosing and treating patients, and what it can for imply for AI. IT'S ZE SOUND OF PROGRESS, MY FRIEND.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

You could've worded this in a way that might've changed my vote. That kind of example is definitely not "what's wrong with society".

by Anonymous 12 years ago