Stephen Baker on Final Jeopardy: Man vs. Machine and the Quest to Know Everything

  • Stephen Baker

Stephen Baker on Final Jeopardy: Man vs. Machine and the Quest to Know Everything

Stephen Baker was BusinessWeek's senior technology writer for a decade, based first in Paris and later New York. He has also written for the Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, and the Wall Street Journal.

His latest work, Final Jeopardy: Man vs. Machine and the Quest to Know Everything, tells the fascinating story of "Watson" - from its birth in the IBM labs to its epic, nationally televised Jeopardy! showdown against two of the game's all-time champions. Watson may be a technological marvel, but at its heart, Watson’s story is very much a tale of heartbreak and hubris, turmoil and triumph; and in the end, speaks more to the power of human ingenuity than it does of that of machines. Final Jeopardy provides a fascinating glimpse into our collective futures as individuals, as a society, and as a species.

In this interview, recorded less than a week from the book's publication and the aforementioned contest, Stephen talks about this milestone in the quest for artificial intelligence, and what it took to get here. He gives us a fascinating behind-the-scenes view of the "evolution" of Watson, the often contentious negotiations that took place between IBM and the Jeopardy! producers, and the events leading up the dramatic televised conclusion. We discuss what Watson's success portends for education, health care, and the economy, and its implications for how humans will store, access, and use knowledge in the future. Finally, we speculate on whether a computer could win the Daytona 500 in 2025.

February 22, 2011 | 00:51:55

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  • Lee Dumond
    Lee Dumond

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Final Jeopardy: Man vs. Machine and the Quest to Know Everything

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