JEOPARDY SCORES RATINGS GOLD

[gregg75]

from tvdeadline.com

Jeopardy's three-day Man vs. Machine series, which pits the show's most successful contestants, Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter against IBM's new supercomputer Watson, is drawing big ratings. Day 2 of the stint last night posted a 9.6 overnight household rating, beating all primetime competition in most of the Top 10 markets, including New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Boston. (Overall, the Sony Pictures TV-produced Jeopardy was No.3 behind NCIS and NCIS: LA). This was up 9% from Monday's 8.8 rating and Jeopardy's best overnight rating in nearly 6 years, since May 25, 2005 when the final of the Ultimate Tournament of Champions featuring Jennings and Rutter drew a 10.5.

Going into tonight's final round, Watson leads with $35,734 in winnings, followed by Rutter with $10,400 and Jennings with $4,800. At stake is not only human pride but also a very expensive bottle of wine, I hear. It is part of a wager between Sony Corp. president and CEO Howard Stringer and IBM president and CEO Sam Palmisano who are friends.

 

[landtuna]

Clarification - Watson isn't a "supercomputer" in the strict definition. Watson is comprised of several dozen linked servers. A supercomputer in the traditional definition is a monolithic mainframe (one computing engine although it might have many CPU's running serial or parallel processes).

Linked servers allow the computing power of a supercomputer with the flexibility to be architected for the task(s) at hand rather than being manufactured as a custom solution (a slower, more complex and more expensive development process).

It isn't smaller or less expensive to run however. Still takes up an entire computer room along with the traditional network and cooling equipment and data storage.

 

[Bill_W]

Watson is comprised of several dozen linked servers. A supercomputer in the traditional definition is a monolithic mainframe (one computing engine although it might have many CPU's running serial or parallel processes).

Several dozen? I thought is was 100 servers. Each rack has 10 servers and there are 2 rows of 5 racks. Is Watson really 50 servers with 50 servers acting as a backup?

 

[bpatrick]

In my local paper this morning there was an interview with Ken Jennings,
who explained his strategy of going for the highest amount in each category:
because the computer isn't acclimated to the category; he also mentioned
that it was a freak accident that the computer gave the same wrong answer
(question) he gave once on Monday's show. BTW, he says that after it's all
over they're going to have a wrestling cage match complete with folding chairs. ;D

 

[Darth_vader]

"Watson is run by two units of five racks, with each rack containing ten IBM Power750 servers (each server having 4 CPUs with 32 cores each) and its RAM is 'over 15 TB'." (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watson_(computer)#Computer_hardware )

100 machines. A parallel mainframe, in other words. Today's version of big iron. (Where else BUT IBM? ;o)

Remember, WATSON isn't even a computer system itself, it's the *software* running on the system.

 

[landtuna]

Several dozen? I thought is was 100 servers. Each rack has 10 servers and there are 2 rows of 5 racks. Is Watson really 50 servers with 50 servers acting as a backup?

I don't know exactly how many servers are linked. That's why I used the term 'several dozen'. Does it really matter?

 

[Tim from Springfield IL]

Just my thought: it's too bad Will Ferrell is no longer an SNL cast member--unless he guest hosts again in the near future. I would be on pins and needles anticipating the next "Celebrity Jeopardy" skit in case the Watson episodes are parodied (with, of course, Sean Connery).

 

[taylorjsdad]

"Watson is run by two units of five racks, with each rack containing ten IBM Power750 servers (each server having 4 CPUs with 32 cores each) and its RAM is 'over 15 TB'." (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watson_(computer)#Computer_hardware )

100 machines. A parallel mainframe, in other words. Today's version of big iron. (Where else BUT IBM? ;o)

Remember, WATSON isn't even a computer system itself, it's the *software* running on the system.

Anyone know what Operating System(s)? The IBM Power Series can run AIX, Linux and IBM i. As a former IBM i Systems Administrator, I would love for it to be IBM i but somehow I am thinking it would be one of the two Unix based OS'.

 

[gregg75]

Rutter is very animated and doesn't keep still very much. I think they should check him
a battery pack located somewhere.

 

[landtuna]

Anyone know what Operating System(s)?

Linux

 

[bpatrick]

Somebody who's more IT-oriented than I am correct me on this,
but I think this has been a huge steppingstone for artificial intelligence;
I read the other day that companies such as IBM have been disappointed
in the progress AI has made up to now, but I think the publicity generated
by Watson's appearances on "Jeopardy!" may really step up AI development.
I only hope the person who, in this week's Time magazine, predicted that AI
could mean the end of human civilization is completely wrong.

BTW, Ken Jennings said that the whole key to winning on "Jeopardy!" is the
ability to ring in at just the right time; most contestants know most of the
answers, he says, so it's a matter of knowing exactly when to ring in. Watson
did a heck of a job with that aspect of the game. But "his" wagers on Daily
Doubles and Final Jeopardy! were hilarious.

 

[landtuna]

There is no such thing as artificial intelligence. There is only the intelligence of the programmers who tell the computer how to act on data. It is a game of anticipation. The programmer has to anticipate every possible input and write instructions how to proceed.

"Intelligence", at least the human variety, consists of other than memory and the ability to read and write natural language. There are emotions and visual and auditory components to intelligence that computers are a long way, if ever, from understanding. Just in understanding language alone there are many nuances that computers cannot yet fathom such as inflection, auditory punctuation and the like.

I don't think any human living today need worry about handing over the reins of civilization to a computer just yet. Computers are very useful for performing rote tasks quickly without needing time off and they can do exceedingly complex math equations without losing track of where they are but in all other aspects they don't add up.

 

[hubcity]

It's a shame they didn't think to make one of the answers "This bird lays its eggs in the air."

...yes, it's an obscure reference.

 

[BMR]

What network was this on?

 

[vchimpanzee]

What network was this on?

Depends on where you live. On my cable system there is an NBC affiliate from in the market and a CBS affiliate from outside the market, the only out-of-market station. The CBS affiliate is also available to me through DTV.

 

[BMR]

So it was on NBC stations in some areas and CBS in others?

???

 

[vchimpanzee]

So it was on NBC stations in some areas and CBS in others?

???

I know of two markets where it's on ABC.

It's called "syndication".

 

[BMR]

So it was on NBC stations in some areas and CBS in others?

???

I know of two markets where it's on ABC.

It's called "syndication".

I didn't think syndicated programming was shown in primetime?

(I'm British, in case you hadn't gathered, so all this is new to me)

 

[vchimpanzee]

So it was on NBC stations in some areas and CBS in others?

???

I know of two markets where it's on ABC.

It's called "syndication".

I didn't think syndicated programming was shown in primetime?

(I'm British, in case you hadn't gathered, so all this is new to me)

Oh, I see. Well, you may not understand our system.

Using the Eastern Time Zone, since that's where I am and since most times of TV shows are given with the Eastern Time, we usually have network news on the Big Three (ABC, NBC, CBS) at 6:30, followed by local or syndicated programming from 7 to 8. Prime time, as it is usually known, lasts from 8 to 11. Except on Sunday, where it's 7 to 11.

"Jeoprady" and "Wheel of Fortune" are usually shown between 7 and 8. Some stations show "Jeopardy" first and then "Wheel", while others do it the other way. I'm lucky to have both choices.

 

[gregg75]

I saw a PBS show last night about the making of WATSON. It was quite interesting and pointed
out how Watson had to be upgraded to overcome some of his early short-falls. I only saw the
last 30 minutes, but I'm sure it will be repeated.................just as all their other shows are.