Dear Editor,
This was an interesting week. For three days the afternoon game show “Jeopardy” had as one of its contestants an advanced IBM computer named “Watson.” The two humans were past winners of the game who had amassed large amounts of prize money with their quick answers. The contest was heated, but “Watson” won; $1 million in fact; which IBM saw fit to give to charity.
From a viewer standpoint it was sometimes boring; because the computer was so much faster than me, or the human competitors. However it was also fascinating that a machine, a computer, could understand spoken American English, and its subtleties, and then search and retrieve so much knowledge so rapidly.
In the studio audience on each of the three days of the contest were the team of engineers who had created “Watson”, and they proudly applauded the victory of their creation; and therein lays the conundrum.
With all of the data, all of the quickness, all of the extrapolation ability of “Watson,” “Watson” does not have the creative ability to create another “Watson;” only a human can do that.
This fact was admitted to by one of the engineers on the team.
The necessary element in creativity is the human mind; and while the computer works in a similar fashion it lacks the emotional aspect necessary to be truly creative.
It was noted that “It is the pride creators can take, the empathy we can all have with the winners and losers and that magical mix of adrenaline, fear and ability that kicks in when our backs are against the wall and we are in a survival mode.”
The epitome of human creativity resides in the arts.
In fact art means creativity; and creativity is what drives the betterment of human society. When the arts are fostered creativity happens; when creative minds are piqued problems are solved; when problems are solved, a community benefits; these benefits are direct products of art and creativity. It was also said about the computers, “…do not have and will not get…the sort of thing that makes a song, romance, smiles, sadness and all that jazz.” The experts, “can’t figure out how it works in people, much less duplicate it. …That is the essence of humanity.”
To suppress the arts is to reduce creativity and the benefits provided. To eliminate the arts is to create automatons, like “Watson”, that possess much information, but no human emotions or sensitivity in the solutions and benefits.
It would thereby hold that without the arts, without the creative juices of the minds of the artist, our progress is very much in jeopardy.
The arts and the humanities are under attack by the budget minded legislators at this very moment.
It is at this moment when we most need the creativity of active minds to solve the problems our society faces.
Please, support the arts by writing your legislators.
George Martin,
Ellinwood