Humans Are On The Verge Of Losing One Of Their Last Big Advantages Over Computers

[FarCenter]

It's been 16 years since Deep Blue first beat Gary Kasparov at chess representing a major breakthrough in terms of the ability of computers to surpass to outperform humans at certain tasks.

But now computers are beating humans in another crucial way according to a post by Tyler Cowen at his blog, Marginal Revolution.

See, it used to be that a human aided by a computer could still beat a computer by itself.

...

According to a Rybka computer chess forum, computers may have recently gotten to the point where they're so good that those advantages don't matter. They work so rapidly that humans really can't add value. You have to seriously slow down the game for a centaur to compare programs at a deep enough level that they can add anything. Now a centaur might be better during a correspondence game over days, but not a regular ones.

...

Beyond chess, that has huge implications. We've made an assumption that while computers will take over just about anything that can be automated, humans will be able to add value through talent, intuition, and the ability to correct a computer's mistakes.

What's left for even brilliant people when computers don't benefit much or at all from that help? The set of occupations where humans are worthwhile looks like it might be shrinking.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/computers-beating-humans-at-advanced-chess-2013-11

Besides which, they don't take 25 years to initialize with uncertain results.

[frazzled]

1. Oh, I think there are some advantages humans will always have

over computers:

• ability to give and receive sexual pleasure
• ability to create artistic output (painting, sculpture, poetry). (And no, I don't mean that a computer can't produce some more realistic imagery; that's not art--art involves creative thought and intent.)
• ability to interact socially in unpredictable ways

[DireStrike]

2. Eliminate work.

There is no reason for people to work once we can automate things that people don't want to do.

Reduce involuntary labor to a volunteer institution, like military service today.

The only excuse not to do this is to hold the vast majority in slavery to an elite.

[gordianot]

3. It could be that computers are the next stage in our evolution.

At what point do they stop being machines?

[Dreamer Tatum]

4. I read this will be fixed in an upcoming iPhone version. nt

[The Straight Story]

5. Meh, turn off the power and they are nothing

We are still far ahead of them in many areas. They have no fear, no motivation, they are a tool created in our own image that is has a long way to evolve before they reach our 'garden of eden' - emotions to drive you.

[cpwm17]

8. Yep: without emotions (and other feelings) both humans and computers would just be lumps of matter

Computers need humans with feelings to operate them. I don't see that changing in the next hundreds of years.

[cpwm17]

6. Computers are still just tools

The minds that computers seem to possess are just extensions of the minds of their designers. The computers' designers are helping humans make more stuff more cheaply.

Theoretically this should allow man to live better while working fewer hours. It may not turn out that way in reality.

[hobbit709]

7. Computers can't think.

[bemildred]

9. Good luck with that.

[unblock]

10. the jobs/games will shift to things that are more challenging for computers/centaurs.

games challenge humans' abilities, which may include humans' computational abilities. chess is one of those games where computational abilities is a great strength. not the only attribute to being a strong human player, but certainly it is an important one and big part of the game.

it's not surprising that a computer can excel at something that relies so much on computational ability, and it's not particularly surprising that a great abundance of computational ability can even make up for possible weaknesses in other attributes that chess challenges (positional strategy, vision, etc.)

but we've always had activities and jobs that have been overtaken by technology, and if chess is no longer a challenge with the tools at hand, then we'll simply move on to other activities that are.