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Subject: More theories for problems of humans against computers

Author: Ingo Althofer

Date: 23:40:08 02/01/03

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On February 01, 2003 at 15:11:39, Uri Blass wrote:

>My theory is that sitting near a very fast computer may cause the human some
>small demage that prevents the human to concentrate in the game at the same
>level that is done against humans.
>
>The theory is that very fast computers generate a strong electromagnetic field
>...

I am not sure about the influence of electro-magnetic fields, but nearby
computers may influence a human opponent in other ways.

*  For instance, the noise of its fans may disturb the human. (An example was
the 2001 sparring match between Fritz and GM Huebner at the Dortmund chess
festival. However, Huebner did not complain. His opinion was that a match player
has to live with the noises in the tournament hall.)


Maybe, psychological measures are promising even more success.
*  It may make sense to put the processor(s) not in a normal hardware box but in
something special (a "black cube" or so), simply to impress the opponent by
futuristic design.

*  It may make sense to use some strange version numbers (or whole names) for
the chess engine, for instance calling it "Deep Junior 9.1005" - when the latest
commercial version was DJ 7.

* Or you can artificially put more processors in the machine (for instance 64
instead of 8) without using them, claiming that you realize a new concept of
massive parallelism with asynchronous processor load.

Probably such side measures will not work against every human - but who knows.

DISCLAIMER: I don't say the Junior team should try such things. But in my eyes
such measures might be more influencial than electromagnetic fields.

Ingo Althofer.


PS: In the late 1980's some chess computer afficionados in Vienna discussed the
possibility of inculding a nicotin reservoir in the computer (project name
"Mephisto Nicotino") - and to blow the stuff against a human non-smoking
opponent in crucial situations of the game. Luckily, the idea was not realized.



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