CONTACT CAROLINE
facebook
rss
tumblr
twitter
goodreads
youtube

  • Home
  • Write Away Blog
  • Books
    • Books
    • Trompe l’Oeil
    • Heart Land
    • Gothic Spring
    • Ballet Noir
    • Book Excerpts
  • Video Interviews
  • Press
    • News
    • Print Interviews
    • Plays
    • Ballet Noir in the Press
    • Trompe l’Oeil In The Press
    • Gothic Spring In The Press
    • Heart Land Reviews
  • Contact
  • About
  • Resources
    • Writer Resources
    • Favorite Blogs
    • Favorite Artists



OMG — What it means to be human

Feb 12, 2013
by Caroline Miller
Eric Brown, Michal Lev-Ram, Teaching Watson the meaning of OMG"
0 Comment

A friend sent me a list of English words the are spelled the same but have different meanings. They are examples of usage that often trip up foreigners. Here are three examples:

 I did not object to the object.

The insurance was invalid for the invalid

They were too close to the door to close it

 Certainly, learning subtle speech is hard on any foreigner, but try teaching those subtleties to a computer like Watson, the machine that defeated human opponents on Jeopardy in 2011. As Michal Lev-Ram points out in his article “Teaching Watson the meaning of OMG,” knowing reams of facts doesn’t count as a defining trait for humans, otherwise the Encyclopedia Britannica or even Wikipedia would be considered one of us. What is human, and a puzzle to computers, is how to make small talk, that “stuff” we say at parties, for example. (“Teaching Watson the Meaning of ‘OMG’” by Michal Lev-Ram, Fortune, 1/13/ pg. 70.)

 Eric Brown, a research scientist at IBM, is charged with the task of tutoring Watson in the art of small talk as well as how to understand slang. It’s proving to be a challenge.

 “We don’t realize how ambiguous the language is,” says Brown. (Ibid, pg. 70.) In his first attempt at tutoring Watson, he uploaded the Urban Dictionary which contains slang words for English. Not only did the computer fail to distinguish the various interpretations of “cool and “hot,” but it developed what can only described as a “potty” mouth, being unable to distinguish “bullshit” from “nonsense,” for example. Watson’s language became so colorful, Brown had to erase the Urban Dictionary from its memory.

At the moment, he has given up trying to teach Watson the nuisances of human language and is training the machine to serve as a diagnostic tool for hospitals. No need for “bullshit” there. OMG, I just used a potty mouth word twice in this blog. Well, what can I say? I’m human.

Watson on Jeopardy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Courtesy of www.catalwwysthouse.net)

 

Social Share

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

*
*

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Contact Caroline at

carolinemiller11@yahoo.com

Portland, Oregon author Caroline Miller had distinguished careers as an educator, union president, elected official and artist/advocate.

Her play, Woman on the Scarlet Beast, was performed at the Post5 Theatre, Portland, OR, January/February 2015

Caroline published a serialized novelette, Marie Eau-Claire, on the website, The Colored Lens.  She also published the story Gustav Pavel,  a parable about ordinary lives, choice and alternate potential, on the website Fixional.co.

Caroline has published four novels

  • Ballet Noir
  • Trompe l’Oeil
  • Gothic Spring
  • Heart Land

Subscribe to Caroline’s Blog


 

Archives

Categories

YouTube-logo-inline2 To access and subscribe to my videos on YouTube, Click Here and click the Subscribe button.

Banner art “The Receptive” by Charlie White of Charlie White Studio

Web Admin: ThinPATH Systems, Inc
support@tp-sys.com

Subscribe to Caroline's Blog


 

Contact Caroline at

carolinemiller11@yahoo.com

Sitemap | Privacy Notice

AUDIO & VIDEO VAULT

View archives of Caroline’s audio and videos interviews.


Copyright © Books by Caroline Miller
Posting....