[11312] in Public-Access_Computer_Systems_Forum
FINS: Checkmate on humanity?
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Vigdor Schreibman - FINS)
Mon May 19 20:20:31 1997
Date: Mon, 19 May 1997 13:13:42 -0500
From: Vigdor Schreibman - FINS <fins@access.digex.net>
To: PACS-L@LISTSERV.UH.EDU
Reply-To: Public-Access Computer Systems Forum <PACS-L@LISTSERV.UH.EDU>
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FINS: Communicating the Emerging Philosophy of The Information Age
FEDERAL INFORMATION NEWS SYNDICATE
Vol V, Issue No. 9 (129 lines) May 19, 1997
CLOSING THE "VALUES-GAP":
Checkmate on humanity?
By Vigdor Schreibman
"In brisk and brutal fashion the I.B.M. computer Deep Blue
unseated humanity ...," The New York Times observed in its
page 1 story (NYT, May 12, 1997, at A1). Similarly, a tale of
the, "stunning showdown between man and machine," was the page
1 treatment that The Washington Post, gave to the chess match
between the Russian chess master Gary Kasparov and the IBM
supercomputer called "Deep Blue" (TWP, May 12, 1997, at A1).
The same treatment, depicting the insuperable power of machine
over humanity appeared in countless stories in hundreds of
newspapers world wide.
Guided by the distorted image projected by many in the mass
media, the global people have been lead by the nose to believe
that what has just transpired was nothing less than cosmic.
Nevertheless, a minority interpreted the story through a
different lens. For example, The Wall Street Journal, put the
question this way, "One small step for a computer, one giant
leap backward for mankind?" (WSJ, May 12, 1997, at A3). The
Journal's lead in story featured as an item on "advertising,"
previously informed readers that this event was no checkmate
on humanity: "Deep Blue Is IBM Publicity Coup" (WSJ, May 9,
1997, at B1).
What actually occurred, cannot be characterized as an
exceptional achievement of machines impinging upon human
mastery. There was no imaginative thinking, which marks the
special genius of human beings, which machines cannot even
begin to match. Nor was artificial intelligence involved,
only machine computation measuring available data, which is
the function that machines now routinely perform at great
speed. There was also a concerted effort to beat Kasparov by
a team of chess and computer programming experts working with
IBM. One Ph.D., computer scientist, an expert in data mining
(who preferred to remain unnamed) told FINS, "This match says
way more to me about Kasparov than anything else. 2 million
dollars worth of computer + a team of programmers and he
manages to still provide stiff competition!"
There was also the charge by Kasparov that IBM cheated to
win the game. IBM had full access to the historical data on
Kasparov's past chess performances, which reveal his governing
patterns of play, but IBM refused to disclose the historical
data on Deep Blue's past performances. As a result, Kasparov
was unable to prepare properly for the match.
Jeff Kisseloff, a journalist who covered the Kasparov camp
for the web page that IBM devoted to the chess match, has
charged the press and IBM with censorship of the real story.
IBM first censored and then wound up firing Kisseloff when he
tried to tell the whole story about IBM cheating and the
performance of Deep Blue during the second crucial game.
"Kasparov is the real story here," Kisseloff observed in an
email message dated 11-May-97, forwarded to the CEM list by
Rick Crawford <crawford@cs.ucdavis.edu>. Continuing,
Kisseloff explained (in part) what occurred,
The press for the most part will say how the computer
caught up to [Kasparov] but don't believe it. IBM likes
to say this was a match of man vs. machine, but it was
really a match of man vs, men plus machines. They had a
team of programmers and a team of grandmasters
programming this thing for a year to beat him, and it's
a tribute to Kasparov's brilliance that under incredible
pressure he was able to hold them off as well as he did.
He did this without seeing how Deep Blue had played any
of its games prior to this match, so he had no
preparation for it. Had he been able to see its games,
and had this match been longer the outcome would have
been much different.
The "monsters of monopoly" now constructing the technopoly,
which defines their totalitarian vision for the future, seem
to enjoy telling stories about their machines, which can
overpower ordinary citizens. A lot of junk shows up in those
stories when they are exposed to the light of day. They tell
among other tales of duplicity and betrayal, these stories:
* The "Golden Rule" of American politics. Both major
parties dominated by large investors assemble the voters they
need through mass communications systems they control without
addressing the issues vital to the large majority of the
electorate, which adversely impinge upon investor interests.
This Rule abrogates the democratic powers of the people.
* Newt Gingrich's "Contract With America." This was
a politics of destruction against honored liberal democratic
institutions, which collapsed in a train wreck with reality
driven by a history teacher who perverted his profession and
dishonored the US Congress, while his party roared applause.
* Al Gore's "Information Superhighways." This was a
development scheme based on a set of wondrous metaphors that
both major parties supported. It provided the super rich
with an infrastructure for obscene inequities funded by the
taxpayers, leaving humankind bereft of genuine betterment.
The last word in the "showdown between man and machine" has
yet to be told. "We the People," can escape crushing bondage
derived from brutal corporate utilization of computing power
only by a strenuous exercise of the inherent capability we
possess to collectively design a true democratic future.
Growing pressure from the games that dumb machines play,
may inevitably work their magic to astound and delight by
compelling citizens to be the best that we can be. Here is a
dynamic challenge between competing forces, which is designed
for the ultimate potential triumph of humanity.
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