Explain It to Me Again, Computer

Re:Explain It to Me Again, Computer by jpxxx on Monday February 25, 2013 @11:09PM (#5283891)

I think this is giving humanity way too much credit. We're only going to care about profitable ideas that algorithms come up with.

Imagine an electronic intelligence with a profound understanding of TV shows. Who would possibly want to hear what it has to say?

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Re:Explain It to Me Again, Computer by saulrh on Monday February 25, 2013 @11:18PM (#5283929)

  Who would possibly want to hear what it has to say?

Television executives.

Everything has an application, and many fewer of those applications are useless than you'd think. Plus there are higher-order effects to consider, mostly related to the tools people develop to attack interesting problems. The classic example is the space race: how useful is it to be able to fire four-hundred-foot-tall fuel tanks into space?

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Re:Explain It to Me Again, Computer by mrcsparker on Tuesday February 26, 2013 @01:05AM (#5284255)

I would. An electronic intelligence with a profound understanding of anything would be interesting.

If I said that, in the next room, there was a computer with a profound understanding of TV shows - wouldn't you be interested? That would be fascinating.

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