Philosophy and Pop Culture

Will Watson Put Humanity in Jeopardy? (Part 2)

Watson, the IBM supercomputer, just wrapped up a thorough Jeopardy thrashing of Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter, the top two Jeopardy champions of all time.

To repeat: Watson--computer--beat the two smartest people ever to play Jeopardy--the linguistically complex game show. 

This is a dramatic leap forward from Deep Blue beating Kasparov at chess. This is end-of-the-world, dogs-and-cats-living-together kind of stuff. 

And it really raises some interesting questions. If a computer can understand language, what is next? Will we one day have computer that act and look just like us too? Are androids in our future? If so, how should we treat them?

And is Watson the first step toward Skynet? Will a giant computer one day turn against and kill us all, like in Terminator?

KJ and Jay take a look at these issues and more.

Enjoy the episodes and think well!

Episode 2

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Will Watson Put Humanity in Jeopardy? (Part 1)

Watson, the IBM supercomputer, just wrapped up a thorough Jeopardy thrashing of Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter, the top two Jeopardy champions of all time.

To repeat: Watson--computer--beat the two smartest people ever to play Jeopardy--the linguistically complex game show. 

This is a dramatic leap forward from Deep Blue beating Kasparov at chess. This is end-of-the-world, dogs-and-cats-living-together kind of stuff. 

KJ and Jay take a look at what makes Watson's victory so significant and what it means to say that a computer understands language.

Enjoy the episodes and think well!


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The Problem of Hell (Part 4)

KJ and Jay take a trip to hell. (They got a great deal on plane tickets.)  

Hell is that wonderful place God sends you to burn forever when you steal a candy bar but die before you say a special prayer of forgiveness.

Is the existence of such a place compatible with the existence of an omni-benvolent (all-good) God? KJ and Jay use a bit of South Park to discuss the existence of the eternal lake of fire.

Oh, and remember: Some of the episodes (like these) are reposts of episodes that were recorded a while back—so ignore the “wired parish” tag, and the occasional slightly out of date info. (I know that South Park is in season 15 now.)

Enjoy the episodes and think well!

Want More Philosophy and Pop Culture?

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The Problem of Hell (Part 3)

KJ and Jay take a trip to hell. (They got a great deal on plane tickets.) 

Hell is that wonderful place God sends you to burn forever when you steal a candy bar but die before you say a special prayer of forgiveness.

Is the existence of such a place compatible with the existence of an omni-benvolent (all-good) God? KJ and Jay use a bit of South Park to discuss the existence of the eternal lake of fire.

 

Oh, and remember: Some of the episodes (like these) are reposts of episodes that were recorded a while back—so ignore the “wired parish” tag, and the occasional slightly out of date info. (I know that South Park is in season 15 now.)

Enjoy the episodes and think well!

Want More Philosophy and Pop Culture?

·  Subscribe to the Podcast

·  Get Philosophy and Pop Culture via Email