Author: Christophe Theron
Date: 18:25:42 02/21/00
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On February 21, 2000 at 19:29:52, Fernando Villegas wrote: >On February 21, 2000 at 14:28:27, Christophe Theron wrote: > >>On February 20, 2000 at 18:56:47, Fernando Villegas wrote: >> >>>So you have changed your mind about this. I remember you rejected some >>>judgements I have posted here or elsewhere about the intrinsic human limits of >>>scientifical or technical creativity. I said that programers are doomed some day >>>to become exhausted of new ideas, as in fact show the career of some of the big >>>names in the recent past. I do not like it, but it happens. >>>fernando >> >> >>I do not remember which post of yours I rejected, so I'm not sure I have changed >>my mind. >> >>However, I might have changed my mind. Maybe... >> >>It's true that when you have spend 10 or 20 years in a chess program, you are >>not ready to throw everything and write a new one with totally different ideas. >> >>However it is not what happened to some of the big names in the recent past IMO. >>Computer chess programs are following the same successful philosophy since >>decades now. No "big name" would have had to throw everything in order to keep >>up with state of the art. The spracklens and others already had alpha/beta >>searchers with all the modern enhancements (hash tables, extensions, and so on). >> >>What happened to them is different I think. Maybe they become tired of it, maybe >>other problems went in the way, maybe after being on top for years it's hard to >>find the motivation again... >> > > >Well, sure it can be so, but I suspect that you become tired when you are tired >to try hard without new substantial improvements of you previuos work.What >happened to the Spracklens is a paradigm. They really tried hard -in saitek- to >overcome Lang and they were not capable to do so. So, not they became tired to >be winners, but became tired ot to be anymore the winner, but just second best. >There is a book by Simone Beauvoir about age and lose of alacrity, specially >conspicuosly happenning in sciences. It is ilustrative and entertaining. L<e >livre s'apelle "La Vielliese". Not funny to read, but... >Fernando, 51 years old :-( That's certainly something that will happen to me, and every programmer, sooner or later. I hope it will happen later to me, because I think that training my mind to find new ideas all the time is good for my brain. I think that when I was younger I was not as creative as I am now. It is good to work hard on something that requires new ideas all the time. It is a good exercise. Of course, you can never be sure of what will happen... Christophe, almost 35 years old. >>What I explain in my previous post is something else. I think (I hope) that >>eventually a new way of programming chess will emerge. Maybe closer to how the >>brain works, maybe a totally different stuff. Anyway, it would be sad that >>alpha/beta/hash_tables/extension... rule forever. >> >>So in case a guy comes with a neural network chess program and kills everybody >>else, I would try to compete and improve mine for a while. If after several >>months of hard work I'm still killed over and over again, it's likely that I'll >>give up programming chess. I don't compete just for the beauty of it. I like to >>win. >> >>But if no revolution happens in the next 30 years, you could also find Ban, >>Morsch, Donninger, Lang, Uniacke, Mayer-Kahlen, Moreland and their friends (or >>maybe sons) in the 2030 SSDF list. :) >> >> >> >> Christophe
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