Author: Graham Laight
Date: 03:13:56 06/05/01
Go up one level in this thread
On June 05, 2001 at 03:58:28, Vine Smith wrote: >On June 04, 2001 at 16:03:36, John Hatcher wrote: > >>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 >This story seems suspicious -- I did find it on the Yahoo news feed, although >not on Reuters.com. The quotes are rather inane -- "...as clever as 1,000 >Einsteins"? Would a university course director really say this? The statements >in the story itself are odd, too; if the course is a "chess" doctorate, why is >the subject programming? What about the odd reference to "apocalyptic fantasies" >which is dignified by a response from the professor? And when I searched for >Peter Vas at Aberdeen University using Google, I found references to him in the >engineering field, not artificial intelligence. Is there anybody in a position >to check further on this? I'm with Vine on this one. Unless or until some better evidence is forthcoming, I will personally believe that John Hatcher's post was a hoax. Good work Vine! -g
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