Everyone loves a competition. When it comes to the Super Bowl, social scientists have not figured out why two opposing teams of brawlers who battle over an oval ball should rise to such prominence that their culminating battle should practically be national holiday. One can only assume that people needed a holiday in the middle of the winter that did not involve giving expensive gifts to kids and had no religious significance whatsoever.
But with the Super Bowl over and just a few football games between now and the March madness of basketball, there is one more competition of note coming in February. For all those people who got an A in school but didn’t do so well on the athletic field, Jeopardy! has come up a super brain match. It’s a three-day competition between Ken Jennings, Brad Rutter and IBM’s new computer, Watson.
Who is Ken Jennings?
Ken Jennings became a TV celebrity when he won 74 consecutive games of Jeopardy! in 2004 and became the top money winner. Reality shows now breed instant celebrities who often fade within a few years. Ken Jennings was one of the few people to gain national recognition because of a quiz show. That hasn’t happened since the 1950s when people were glued to their sets as they watched contestants like Charles Van Doren climb the ladder week after week. Jennings appeared on other quiz shows and on some commercials for a few years after his big win.
Previous Jeopardy! champions could only remain on the show for five days. Those winners would later appear on a yearly Tournament of Champions. Once the rules changed, Jennings was off and running on his long term winning streak which culminated in $2.52 million dollars. A few years later, Jennings lost to Brad Rutter on the Ultimate Tournament of Champions, although he came in second with a win of $500,000.
Who is Brad Rutter?
Rutter had been a five-day champion who later won the annual Tournament of Champions, held every year among the five-day winners. When previous five-day champions realized that they could have upset Jennings if they had had the opportunity, the quiz show decided to stage an Ultimate Tournament of Champions That allowed the top Tournament champions to return to the TV stage and pit their knowledge and skill against each other.
Brad Rutter came in first in the Ultimate Tournament with a win of two million dollars. This meant that his total winnings which included his initial run, The Tournament of Champions, The Million Dollar Masters Tournament and the Ultimate Tournament added up to well over $3 million.
What’s a Watson?
Now, here’s the rub. Both of these guys, who have not only brains, but the fastest trigger fingers in the West, are up against a new compact super-computer named Watson. It’s a product of IBM and it’s supposed to be able to think in a deductive way. Most Jeopardy! questions include a clue that requires a bit of deductive reasoning. Mere memorization is not enough.
One of the lasting images in the popular imagination is the character of HAL in the 1969 movie 2001:A Space Odyssey. He was the computer operating system for the space ship that was headed for Jupiter and he decided to take over the mission and kill the astronauts on it. Many people who have never seen the movie have seen the iconic images over the years as HAL launches an astronaut into the void and then in his even monotone voice tries to prevent the surviving astronaut, Dave, from destroying him.
And it is a pop culture myth that the letters "HAL," (each letter representing those in "IBM") implied that computers were trying to take over the world. (Personal computers and Microsoft were not even around back then). Will Watson be more people friendly than HAL?
Quickness with the Button
One of the hallmarks of a Jeopardy! champion is the quick trigger finger. You need quick reflexes to buzz in first. It’s a tricky thing because Alex Trebek has to finish asking the question before you ring in. And if a contestant rings in too late (that is, if someone else has rung in earlier), the buzzer goes dead and he can’t get a sound out of it. On the other hand, if a contestant buzzes in quickly but does not have time to digest the question, he will be standing there with egg on his face.
So will Watson, with its lightning speed computer skills, be able to buzz in first and then have a few seconds to figure out the answer or will the producers take that into consideration when setting up the match? We will find out soon. The program airs February 14, 15 and 16, 2011.
Sources www.jeopardy.com/minisites/watson/
Barbara Hudgins - I am the author of Crafting the Travel Guidebook: How to Write, Publish & Sell Your Travel Book. This book was written after years of ...
