One Way Computers Are Better Than Humans: Cataloging Data From Studies
Monday, December 1, 2014 - 19:10
in Mathematics & Economics
In 1997, IBM's Deep Blue computer beat Garry Kasparov at chess. He had won their first encounter in 1996, with 3 wins, 1 loss and 2 draws (4-2), so the team of programmers and chess experts tweaked the program and in 1997 came out ahead 3.5-2.5, a big achievement for programming because chess is 'creative'. Another creative task even more relevant to scientists than chess is extracting data from scientific publications to create a database cataloging results from tens of thousands of individual studies. It sounds like it would be easy but much of cataloging would ordinarily be placed in the 'subjective' camp. read more