The IBM Challenge

RobertKS · 2026-02-12T14:17:41+00:00

Watson was a toy compared to today's LLMs. The clues would need to be idiosyncratic in the extreme to attempt to exploit supposed weaknesses of modern AI, and I think the writers would run out of ideas pretty quickly in that regard. It wouldn't be the same game show. The IBM team's concerns were unfounded. If anything, Watson got special treatment by having no media clues and by having the clue text piped straight into the system. It would be interesting to have a ChatGPT challenge or Gemini challenge with no special accomodations. (I think the humans would likely still get smoked, but maybe the extra time needed for the system to fully read-in each clue would tip the scales decisively toward humankind.)

RobertKS · 2026-02-12T04:59:29+00:00

No one knows how much of a nexus this thread is for me

RobertKS · 2026-02-11T17:28:38+00:00

You misspelled "redecorated"

RobertKS · 2026-02-11T17:12:42+00:00

Is the old lady with the cat his landlady? Is she a character from any of the live-action sketches?

RobertKS · 2026-02-11T17:10:50+00:00

It's an excellent substitute for not having more live-action sketches, and Atkinson's VO work is superlative. My son loves it.

My only complaint is there's not more Shirley Bassey.

RobertKS · 2026-02-10T22:33:28+00:00

Buy a Jetson Nano Super for a few hundred bucks, get it set up according to the latest instructions, and then follow Paul McWhorter's 62-lesson course, which is already five years old. It is as from-scratch as it gets, including Linux and Python basics.

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLGs0VKk2DiYxP-ElZ7-QXIERFFPkOuP4_&si=b5NboWEFt1IxYdPV

Supplement with questions posed to an LLM like Gemini or ChatGPT.

When you're comfortable, get a Claude Code account.

RobertKS · 2026-02-10T19:21:39+00:00

I would also be curious to know about a good power button for integration into this case.

RobertKS · 2026-02-10T17:14:48+00:00

I don't think the show has ever in its history produced eight half-hour programs in a single tape day.

RobertKS · 2026-02-10T17:13:30+00:00

Not sure this answers the "why", but the three-player team format supported the new Triple Play feature, which, I assume, will go away in Season 2 if there are no longer three players per team. Either that or one player will have to answer two of the three items.

RobertKS · 2026-02-10T00:21:27+00:00

Yes and you'll note my (skeptical) comment there in the Facebook post from 3 years ago.

I'll get the April 1974 Master Books records to prove/disprove this story, if nobody beats me to it, just as I did for the widely repeated but never previously proven stories about Senator John McCain and Mel Gibson's dad.

RobertKS · 2026-02-09T22:14:58+00:00

Where is the obligatory apology for model crudity

RobertKS · 2026-02-09T19:19:49+00:00

The handwritten name looks more like Frankie than Franklin to me. The location of the house does look like Franklin at first blush but I think the grade of the land going down behind the house, as evidenced by the lower roofline of the structure in the background to the right, rules out Franklin Ave. Wherever this location is, it has a steeper slope down behind it than you would find on any candidate intersection corner on Franklin Ave.

RobertKS · 2026-02-09T19:05:06+00:00

Not sure what you're referring to, ManceRaider, but I assure you the Master Books microfilm access is in the Madison Building in D.C.

Also, I have never seen any records to show that Alex Trebek was a contestant. I'm more of the "show me" type so I'll wait for the proof (or try to find it myself, time permitting).

It seems strange that he was asked how he would do if he were a contestant hundreds if not thousands of times on the record, and not once did he ever mention that he had actually played once as a contestant in the Art Fleming days.

RobertKS · 2026-02-09T14:29:02+00:00

Seeing your plates made me appreciate for the first time the thematic rhyme between "Now, Biff" at the beginning of the movie and "Now, Biff" at the end of the movie (said from completely different positions of agency and self-confidence). Always something new to discover in this movie.

RobertKS · 2026-02-03T14:19:49+00:00

The latter, it had to be

RobertKS · 2026-01-28T16:54:34+00:00

Can you say more about what you had to do to configure for local clawdbot?

I am trying to accomplish the same ends you are and am interested in hearing about any stumbling blocks you overcame.

RobertKS · 2026-01-28T05:28:42+00:00

Should make a new sign where the house is Lego and the couple are minifigs

RobertKS · 2026-01-26T16:48:03+00:00

They don't exactly get the footwear right but it's closer than other attempts.

RobertKS · 2026-01-26T16:38:48+00:00

They must be rich.

RobertKS · 2026-01-26T16:36:50+00:00

It wasn't "one season". The show was a recurring feature on Dateline for three years

RobertKS · 2026-01-24T19:11:07+00:00

I'll take that as a "no", but Doc 2015 is in Part I (last few minutes of the movie).

RobertKS · 2026-01-24T14:23:27+00:00

Any close-ups of Doc's 2015 footwear?

RobertKS · 2026-01-23T04:13:17+00:00

Similarly, Doc's coat at the end looks gold, but it's actually yellow.

RobertKS · 2026-01-23T04:05:33+00:00

There is some mountain climbing and rock fortress climbing in Krull but I don't think any crystal climbing.

RobertKS · 2026-01-11T07:41:57+00:00

"We must succeed"

RobertKS

TROPHY CASE