On 11-aug-08, at 08:56, Basti Weidemyr wrote:
However, maybe we do not need to use these kinds of challenges as a
means of getting media attention.
We would like to find a way to cooperate with the traditional go-
community with little friction. What do you think?
We come in peace! ;-)
I must say I have little sympathy for people who think that computers
are destroying their game. They should ask themselves, deep in their
heart, why they're playing Go (or any other intellectual game). Most
people play for fun. The fun of measuring themselves against other
people and the fun of intellectual discovery that comes with it.
Those things won't change. Some people play because of a certain
social status it gives them, whether justified or not. Those people
may feel threatened that this status will now be looked less upon
when computers start challenging them. But it's no different from
just about any human activity that gets trivialized by industrial or
scientific progress. People will have to adapt to it, and they will.
Desperately trying to shut it out does nobody any service and to me
falls in the same category as people trying to force Galileo to
recant his theories in the past. We get good things in return for
progress. There may be a few small sacrifices in return.
Maybe professionals feel threatened. But it's because as a group they
live in an ivory tower if there ever was one. If they refuse to play
computers it's like sticking their heads in the sand. It doesn't
really surprise me, for example the Nihon Ki-in is nothing less than
a medieval guild in modern times and sooner or later reality will
pass them by.
Chess is still played competitively and professionally. The same will
be for Go for a long time to come. But yes, at some point it's likely
some things will change. But most likely it will be for the better.
Sorry if this comes across as a bit of a rant, I guess I'm a bit
allergic to extreme conservatism.
Mark
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