On 11, Aug 2008, at 4:56 AM, Basti Weidemyr wrote:
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The review of Xiao Ai Lin vs Leela:
http://www.weidemyr.com/egc/cg/XiaoAiLin_Leela-review.sgf
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Several people at the congress expressed worries to me about what
would happen to the sport Go, if computer programs became stronger
and threatened to defeat the strongest men. Go would lose its
advantage over chess, they said, and people would feel redundant as
computers could do it better.
Nobody in Portland asked me this question, either before or after the
Mogo/Kim match.
One man asked me repeatedly to quit running challenges between
professionals and computers. The professionals themselves became
very nervous when we asked them to play against a computer. It is
not hard to imagine the bold headlines after losing, but it is hard
to imagine them after winning.
I had an interchange from the other side. I wanted to know the
sensible thing to try next, and asked a pro who will remain un-named.
He thought the whole question absurd. He felt that the match meant
nothing and that the distance between the program and any pro was
still so large that to discuss "next" was equally meaningless. And
this is a pro that I have spoken to many times, who has always been
very polite. I have only seen him more emphatic and less composed once
when he yelled at me "If you can't read well then don't try so hard to
read it out!"
The game between MoGo and Kim Myung Wan was unique, since MoGo run
on a large cluster and interesting to watch. (Congratulations MoGo
team!) It was also a great way of showing people the progress that
has been made in computer-go recently. However, maybe we do not need
to use these kinds of challenges as a means of getting media
attention.
If the reporters understood what we were doing and got it right it
would be useful ...
I think we do need these matches, but we need to be careful in how
they are structured and how often we have them. I also understand the
difficult position the pro is in: If they win it means nothing but if
they loose they are for all history the goat.
But as Don keeps saying, we are not treading on new ground, the exact
same thing happened with chess.
We would like to find a way to cooperate with the traditional go-
community with little friction. What do you think?
I agree that we need to insert ourselves politely, but I think still
with a little force. I will not go into all of the details of the
meeting with the AGA regarding getting honest and accurate ratings for
programs, but there were many obvious prejudices being expressed and
more than a few "Catch-22" situations to carefully be danced around.
Fortunately, the incoming AGA President saw the situation clearly and
crafted a comfortable compromise. We will be accepted, even if only
Incrementally.
Best regards
Basti Weidemyr
kgs: sestir
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