Ginni Rometty joined IBM 35 years ago in Detroit. She has been Chairman, CEO and President since 2012.
How did we get to Watson?
Ginni: ---There have been three technology trends shaping our lives.
1. Cloud
2. Mobility
3. The Explosion of Data around us
It isn't possible to (understand) this explosion of information. This was the road to Watson (a Supercomputer).
---To bring any value to all this information to solve these unsolvable problems you were going to need a whole new way of computing and of systems that could take that (informatoin) and to make some sense out of it.
---Go back 20 years and you were an online buyer you might have had 1/2 million things you could look at (to buy online). Today there are 20 to 25 million things you might be able to buy online. You as a buyer how can you even discern what is the right thing to do? This is what has led us to Watson--This explosion of information-- data is going to differentiate companies and how you make sense of it? That led us to Watson which is the ability of Systems to learn.
Fareed: How is Watson different from our average computer?
Ginni: It is very different and I want you to not think of if as a computer. Think of Watson and this new world of Cognitive--think of it as it's in the Cloud so therefore it's applicable to everyone. And think of it being embedded in everything that you could do. So it will impact your daily life, it will impact your business. When you think of it as a service that can be imbedded it will touch billions of things, billions of people and billions of things that they do. To help you make a better decision, whether that's personally or whether that's professionally.
Fareed: So let's take Medical because Watson does a lot of medical work. Explain to us why Watson is a better doctor than most doctors.
Ginni: Actually, I wouldn't say it that way. What I really envision is it's goal is not to replace anyone. Artificial intelligence is about augmenting intelligence, helping people make better decisions. And that's in fact what we're doing.
If you want to see more watch a video of this from Fareed Zaharia GPS of this interview with IBM CEO Ginny Rommety.
Here is my take on all this. The problem becomes who is telling Watson what to do and what are their motivations?
Yes. it's all very well and good that Watson can help in all these ways but you and I have already seen all the horrors of the Internet and computers already around the world. So, depending upon what the motivations of those controlling Watson are: "And how do we know for sure what that actually is?"
will depend the actual results in everyone's lives.
Also, if you have talked to a child or 20 something lately one wonders if they could actually survive 1 or more days in the wilderness without their smartphone, ipad, computer, Ipod etc. So, people like myself who remember No cell phones, no VHS, no DVDs, no CDs, no home computers etc. are becoming more and more rare as we die off one by one through old age or accident. And what happens when we are all gone?
Who will be left that can actually function without all these things in an EMP from a nuclear weapon or A Solar Flare like the one in 1859 that would wipe out all magnetic memory on that side of the earth permanently (until something workable is shipped from the other side of the planet.)
So, the dependence we are creating here could lead (and possibly will) to the end of civilization (at least on one side of the planet in the next EMP from a large enough Solar Flare hitting earth or from a Hydrogen Bomb set off 100 miles or more above the planet to destroy everything electronic for thousands of miles across a country like the U.S. lower 48, Europe, Russia, or China or another country?
What would remain functional after such an EMP? The only thing for sure would be CDs, DVDs and other non-magnetic memory and any military vehicles already designed to withstand and EMP from a nuclear blast. But, I can't guarantee anything else electrical would work at all.
So, what happens if this happens after those of us who would know how to survive something like this are all gone?
The other thing wrong with the above scenario is that Artificial intelligence WILL eventually take away all jobs from everyone who doesn't own their own supercomputer in exactly the same way it is going to take away almost all driving jobs from men especially during the next 20 years worldwide. So, as you watch men lose their driving jobs just remember your job at some point will be next sometime this century.
And how will people survive after that?
It likely will either become a welfare state completely or everyone is going to die in revolutions or Global Warming, one or the other.
In the end it's up to us what happens to us. By every decision we make or don't make our children and their children will live or die.
By God's Grace
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