Text 32460, 37 rader
Skriven 2009-05-18 22:40:00 av Michiel van der Vlist (2:280/5555.1)
  Kommentar till text 32382 av Robert Bashe (2:2448/44)
Ärende: Strange occurrences
===========================
Robert Bashe wrote to Michiel van der Vlist on Thursday May 14 2009 at 07:36:

 MV>> I would not say never. Not that long ago it was claimed that
 MV>> computers would never beat a grandmaster at chess...

 RB> Chess is a logical game, Michiel. Same goes for checkers and card
 RB> games. Anlything logical is fair game for a computer.

Yes and no. It is logical in that it has strict, well definrd rules and that
the number of moves is finite. That is the theory. In practice, the number of
possible moves is so astronomically larges that not ven the combined computer
power of this planet can complete a pure brute force attack in the life time of
the universe.

So any computer programme will have to be a blend of brute force and some
"strategy".

 MV>> So perhaps chess is easier to master than natural languages.

 RB> Most definitely. I like to ask Germans what the word "Zug" means, and
 RB> the invariable answer is the question "in what context?".

 RB> Depending on the context, it can mean a move (as in chess), a parade,
 RB> a train, the action of drawing or pulling something, a sip (of a
 RB> beverage) or a puff (of a cigarette), or a winch. And there are
 RB> probably more meanings I can't think of at the moment. A beautiful
 RB> example of illogical human language, something like "there are three
 RB> twos/tos/toos", but more complicated.

All languages that I know have examples like that.



Cheers, Michiel

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