Author: John Hatcher
Date: 13:03:36 06/04/01
Here is a news report today from Reuters which may be of interest: ********************************************************** (Reuters) Scottish University Sets Up First Chess Doctorate EDINBURGH, Scotland (Reuters) - A Scottish university is setting up the world's first chess doctorate which its creator hopes will lead to the development of supercomputers capable of beating even the greatest of grandmasters. ``My computers will be as clever as 1,000 Einsteins,'' course director Peter Vas, professor of artificial intelligence at Scotland's Aberdeen University, told Reuters Monday. A keen chess player himself, Vas is looking for around 40 graduates for the three-year PhD course, which also aims to push back the boundaries of artificial intelligence, creating computers that can think and learn by themselves. He hopes former Russian world chess champion Garry Kasparov will become a lecturer. Only the brainiest need bother applying -- prospective candidates must be highly proficient at math and computing and be in the top flight of their national chess rankings. ``There will be a grandmaster entrance exam,'' Vas said, although he denied reports that they had to beat the grandmaster in a game to get in. ``Obviously we can't ask for them to beat a grandmaster because if it was Kasparov playing 100 people simultaneously, he would still beat them all,'' Vas said. ``Just showing the potential will be enough.'' Vas said the new supercomputers would have the combined intelligence of the world's finest human minds. However, they would not live up to the apocalyptic fantasies of some Hollywood film directors and get so smart they tried to destroy humanity. ``An intelligent thing will always stop short of destroying itself,'' Vas said. ``There's no chance of that happening.'' Even Kasparov, who has met tough electronic challengers in IBM's 'Deep Blue' and its bigger, better cousin 'Deeper Blue', stands to gain. ``Playing something better than him will help him improve his game,'' Vas said. ******************* END
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