Philosophy
A Difficult Question: When Will Watson Die?
Imagining what might be happening 10 thousand years in the future…
I was hesitant to write about this embarrassing experience, but after having an existentialist moment, I decided to share it with a defeated-win situation. In the end… well… This is about the dramatic end of my presentation to a well-informed group on a Friday meeting.
I was attending our usual philosopher’s group consisting of friends from different professional, educational, and cultural backgrounds with a strong interest in the philosophical aspects of technology and engineering.
The group comprises distinguished thinkers and leaders from multiple technical and engineering disciplines.
It was my turn to present recent progress in cognitive science, artificial intelligence, and cognitive computing. I was excited, like a little child, to showcase my knowledge, experience, and leadership in this field.
The topic of my presentation was featuring IBM Watson. I outlined the progress Watson made on trending cognitive and artificial intelligence capabilities in medicine, helping doctors to make decisions, molecular science, analytics, IoT, and various industries using AI.
Since the group consisted of informative thought leaders, I used structured content with a well-prepared point of view by diving deep into critical points that might matter to them. I was meticulous about practical use cases, architectural schemes, leadership trends, and industry coverage.
In addition to technical, architectural, business, transformational, and societal focus, I provided a historical background on how IBM started over a hundred years ago with the vision of Thomas John Watson.
T. J. Watson died in 1956. IBM Watson system was named in his memorable honor.
I even added a few quotes from T. J. Watson to make the presentation attractive. I knew they would like the following couple of quotes as leaders kept repeating them.
If you want to increase your success rate, double your failure rate.
Good design is good business.
Anyway…My point in this article is related to the unexpected end of the presentation.
At the end of the presentation, we started the regular questions and answers (QA) session. I thought the QA session would be a piece of cake, considering my background and knowledge of the topic.
As you may remember, IBM Watson won Jeopardy as the first-place prize of $1 million, leaving legendary champions Brad Rutter and Ken Jennings behind in 2011.
The Q&A session started. By the way, my favorite part of any presentation is the Q&A session. My reason is to enjoy the reflections of the audience coming from various angles. But this Q&A session was different!
The first question was from a philosophy professor from a tier-one university who also worked as a senior technology consultant on ethical aspects of artificial intelligence in society.
He stood up slowly and asked softly, “when do you reckon Watson will die?”
First, the question did not register in my mind. I asked him to repeat the question. He asked again, simplifying the question: “When will Watson die?”. I never had such a difficult question in any of my presentations.
The first answer coming to my mind was “never”! Smiling, I said: “Watson will not die!”. I mumbled and tried to speculate some points, such as the generations would further develop it hence it would be eternal.
This was a terrible answer! I felt it in the very fabric of my soul.
Then the next bullet from another philosopher triggered as if from nowhere.
“How do you envision Watson in 10 thousand years of time?”.
Even years of studies on philosophy and my regular stoic practice did not help me answer the question correctly.
This was a reality check on nothingness which has been one of my weak points. My mind tapped into some nihilistic and existentialist memories from the past with a flash of light. I hoped to learn from Nietzsche, who provided some perspectives, and Albert Camus, who died so young and did not get a chance to give us a satisfactory answer.
Then, some quantum concepts started flourishing in my challenged mind in desperation, but I did not dare to continue further. I stuck to my stoic principles to control my audience. I know that humility and modesty are essential virtues.
I felt that I knew nothing! It was not new to me. This has been an intense sensation for me for many years. It became my paradoxical truth.
The presentation and meeting adjourned with no conclusion due to these challenging questions.
No one in this informed group knew when IBM Watson would die.
And no one was able to imagine what might be happening 10 thousand years in the future.
Do you have any idea?
Here are ten ways to make our brain healthier based on my experience.
Thank you for reading my perspectives. I wish you a healthy and happy life.
I saw Watson in one of my lucid dreams giving insights from the 33rd century.
Here is how I perceive the 50th century.
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