Author: Bruce Moreland
Date: 09:37:53 05/03/01
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On May 02, 2001 at 22:41:20, Steve wrote: >Perhaps someone can explain to me why this match is so "important," because I >don't see it. When Kasparov played Deep Blue, the match attracted wide interest >because (1) Kasparov was already a legend, the winner of several epic world >championship matches, the world's top-rated player for umpteen years, the winner >of virtually every tournament he entered, and a flamboyant showman with real >charisma; (2) Deep Blue was unquestionably the world's most powerful >chess-playing machine; and (3) this match of unquestioned human and computer >champions raised the intriguing possibility that machine might for the first >time beat man at a game considered -- at least by most people in the West -- to >be the most intellectually challenging of all. None of that applies to the >forthcoming (or merely rumored?) match between Kramnik and Deep Fritz. It >offers (1) a player largely unknown to the general public, whose one great >achievement is his single match win against Kasparov; (2) a computer opponent >that is not only weaker than Deep Blue, but may well not even be the world's >strongest piece of chessplaying software; and (3) a climate in which most people >have already concluded, on the basis of the Kasparov match, that "computers can >now beat the best players." There may be considerable interest in this match >among the members of CCC, but I'll bet there isn't much interest anywhere else. If machines are considered to be better than humans, so much the better from the point of view of spectators. They can cheer on one of their own species, playing against the invulnerable beast at improbable odds, or so they will perceive it. The big deal about this match is that it will make Kramnik a lot of money, will sell some copies of Fritz for Chessbase and will improve the Fritz "brand", and will give some AP and Reuters reporters a nice story to report somewhat incorrectly a few times. I guarantee that there will be at least one article about it in your local paper. bruce
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