In the age of computers and pocket calculators, does mental calculation have a future?
In the Age of Google DeepMind, Do the Young Go Prodigies of Asia Have a Future?
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Re: In the Age of Google DeepMind, Do the Young Go Prodigies of Asia Have a Future?
#12Why should I really be concerned about Go prodigies? Aren't there a lot more ordinary people being affected by technological unemployment who have much fewer resources to fall back on?
Such as lawyers. And truck drivers, of course.
But there's so much more to this than human obsolescence. This is the cusp of a new stage in evolution.
Re: In the Age of Google DeepMind, Do the Young Go Prodigies of Asia Have a Future?
#13From the article: "It is estimated that, of South Korea’s three hundred and twenty pros, only around fifty are able to earn a living on tournament winnings." This isn't going to result in massive unemployment.
However, cheating with computer assistance is likely to become a problem, as it is in chess.[1] (The state of the art in computer chess is now roughly at "laptop with off the shelf program can curb-stomp human world champion.")
[1] http://en.chessbase.com/post/yet-another-case-of-cheating-in...
Re: In the Age of Google DeepMind, Do the Young Go Prodigies of Asia Have a Future?
#14Go has still much more to offer as it is not even close to be a solved game.
Additionally, there's handicap Go, and additionally handicaps can be applied to the machine. Go offers the possibility for players of different levels to enjoy a game.
Re: In the Age of Google DeepMind, Do the Young Go Prodigies of Asia Have a Future?
#15I mean, that's like asking whether marathon runners have a future now that we've got cars. Exercising one's brain/having pleasure through the game could be an end in itself, and is independent of how machines perform.
I like that analogy a lot! It's not like "playing Go really well" ever solved any real-world problem, it has always been a competition among humans. What should change, there?
Re: In the Age of Google DeepMind, Do the Young Go Prodigies of Asia Have a Future?
#16Well, absolutely, if they're talking about Golang that is. In all seriousness, a computer did fairly well on Jeopardy some years back, and we're still watching the game show as it's still quite relevant.
Re: In the Age of Google DeepMind, Do the Young Go Prodigies of Asia Have a Future?
#17In the age of Deep Blue, do young chess prodigies have a future?
In the age of high tech robot replacements, do unskilled factory workers have a future?
Re: In the Age of Google DeepMind, Do the Young Go Prodigies of Asia Have a Future?
#18In the age of Deep Blue, do young chess prodigies have a future?
[13th century] In the age of gunpowder, do young archery prodigies have a future?
This is a good one. It was still many many centuries later before it stopped being a tool in war and from a competitive prospect it is still kickin (although not pervasive)
Re: In the Age of Google DeepMind, Do the Young Go Prodigies of Asia Have a Future?
#19In general I'd suggest reading "The player of Games" by Banks. A Culture novel that explores why would someone care about being good at "boardgames" in a universe where even the dumbest appliance could easily outperform any human.
One thing that Banks never addressed in his Culture novels was humans wanting to become Minds. I mean if I live in a society where there are humanoids and Minds, then I want to be a Mind, with a stream-of-consciousness that includes the transition. Wouldn't this be true of many people who are in to science?
Re: In the Age of Google DeepMind, Do the Young Go Prodigies of Asia Have a Future?
#20It seems like the authors are trying to use the latest story in the Go world to write about how all the jobs will be replaced by neural networks or something. I mean, people still throw javelins even though it is fairly trivial to build a machine that shoots a projectile farther than a human can throw.
We still enjoy trivia games even though it is easy to google the answers. I dunno, I think it is a bit of a stretch to think AlphaGo has ended serious competitive human Go.