Like any good nerd, I was pretty excited to watch Watson compete on Jeopardy this week. For those who don't know, Watson is an IBM program (not a computer, according to my friend in SEAS—though some language on the IBM website suggests he might be wrong on that one) designed to answer questions posed to it by human beings. It can recognize nuances in our language and give us an answer by using algorithms to analyze the 1 million books worth of information stored on its servers.
If all that's a bit confusing, watch this.
After a resounding defeat of Jeopardy's human champions, it's pretty clear that IBM has come up with something special. And word has it that the system is now moving on to Columbia's own Medical Center for further testing.
