Author: James Robertson
Date: 23:22:56 01/14/00
Go up one level in this thread
On January 14, 2000 at 22:36:34, Dann Corbit wrote: >On January 14, 2000 at 22:32:40, James Robertson wrote: >>On January 14, 2000 at 19:53:34, Dann Corbit wrote: >> >>>On January 14, 2000 at 09:31:43, Robert Hyatt wrote: >>>>On January 14, 2000 at 02:20:09, James Robertson wrote: >>>[snip] >>>>>I find it impossible to believe that he is the only human who is capable of >>>>>doing this. >>>> >>>>Think about this: How long did it take him to become able to do this? At >>>>least 12 years. How long would it take someone _new_ to catch up to his >>>>skills at this? About 12 years. >>> >>>I think "anyone could have done it" is a bit of a reach. >> >>Who's quote is this? It certainly isn't mine. >Hyperbole on my part, certainly. What was said was: >"I find it impossible to believe that he is the only human who is capable of >doing this." >which implies that others are able. Of _course_ others are able. But you quoted me as saying "anyone" could have done it, which is _not_ true. "Many people" is very different from "everyone". > >>>There are two reasons >>>that I say this. First, nobody else *did* it with the success that he had. If >>>they could have, why didn't they? >> >>$$$ >Has the financial reward suddenly vanished? If another machine came along and >could successfully challenge Kasparov and/or Deep Blue would it fail to garner >the interest of people? I suspect it might even be more monumentous. There was another machine being made by another company that planned to play Kasparov after he "defeated" DB the second time. Of course Kasparov lost and this company canceled their plans to create another chess supercomputer. They must have had good reason.... > >>> >>>The second reason is that 'could have' does not connect with 'would have.' >>>For instance, Bill Pugh invented the skiplist in the 1980's. Hoare invented >>>quicksort in the 1960's. The concepts are simple. Many people "could have" >>>invented those things. But they didn't. Why not? >>> >>>* Lacked effort >>>* Lacked interest >>>* Lacked time >>>* Lacked money >>>* Lacked <whatever> >>> >>>If the Laser and Teflon had not been invented by their inventors would we have >>>found them by now? Probably, but maybe not. In any case the proof of the >>>pudding is in the eating. Hsu's pudding was the best tasting ever, unless you >>>happen to be Kasparov. Apparently, he's not in any big rush for a second >>>helping. >>>;-) >>> >>> >>>[snip] >> >>This is the wrong way to look at it. There is _one_ way to make Teflon. There >>are unlimited possibilities for a chess computer. Just because Hsu invented one >>way does not mean there are not many many other ways. > >Still waiting for someone to come up with one of the alternatives.... Then you believe are _no_ other alternatives? There are many ways to build an moon lander. Just because only one has ever been built means that that is the only way. James
This page took 0 seconds to execute
Last modified: Thu, 15 Apr 21 08:11:13 -0700
Current Computer Chess Club Forums at Talkchess. This site by Sean Mintz.