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South Korean professional Go player Lee Se-Dol (R) prepares for his match against Googles artificial intelligence program, AlphaGo, during the Google DeepMind Challenge Match on March 10, 2016 in Seoul, South Korea. (Photo by Google via Getty Images)

In life, unlike chess, the game continues after checkmate. Isaac Asimov

Historian and technologist David Nye has argued that the meaning of a tool is inseparable from the stories that surround it. In the context of artificial intelligence (AI), those stories have been dominated by the games that AI systems play.

It started with the Mechanical Turk, the chess-playing machine unveiled in the late 18th century. Although the so-called machine was a hoax, it set a precedent you could even say, initiated an obsession for computer scientists for centuries to come. According to Nathan Ensmenger, a computer science professor at Indiana University, many in the computing community believed that once a machine mastered chess the intellectual game par excellence, according to Nobel Laureate Herbert Simon one would seem to have penetrated to the core of human intellectual endeavor.

In 19651966, Soviet mathematician Alexander Kronrod called chess the drosophila of AI. By that he meant that the game was to artificial intelligence research what the fruit fly had been to genetics research: a testbed for the fields biggest ideas, at once accessible enough to experiment on easily and complex enough to learn from. Fruit flies are easy to maintain in a small lab, have a short reproductive cycle of one to two weeks (enabling researchers to study multiple generations in a matter of months), and have over 60% of the disease-causing genes in humans. As David Bilder, former president of the National Drosophila Board of Directors, points out, fruit fly research has led in one way or another to five Nobel prizes over the past 85 years. Chess, computer scientists believed, could have a similar impact on AI. Ensmenger noted a few years ago that, It is a rare discussion of AI, whether historical, philosophical, or technical, that does not eventually come around to chess-playing computers.

Nor were computer scientists the only people convinced that chess was AIs alpha and omega. When on May 11, 1997, IBMs Deep Blue computer beat Garry Kasparov, the media and public response was enthusiastic. This seemed to prove the legitimacy of computers, demonstrating that they could now emulate, and even beat, humans at a task that was both mathematically and technically difficult but also one that involved as much art as science. Was Kubricks HAL 9000 just around the corner?

As the initial excitement settled down, critics began questioning what this accomplishment actually meant for machine intelligence. John McCarthy, the organizer of the worlds firstAI conference at Dartmouth, wrote in a piece published in Science in 1997 that Computer chess has developed as much as genetics might have if the geneticists had concentrated their efforts starting in 1910 on breeding racing Drosophila. We would have some science, but mainly we would have very fast fruit flies.

Others shared that critique. In 1990, MIT professor Rodney Brooks argued that the fields obsession with games was problematic in that it anchored intelligence to systems of symbols rather than to the sort of physical reality that supports and propels human intelligence. Traditional AI has tried to demonstrate sophisticated reasoning in rather impoverished domains, wrote Rodney Brooks in an article titled Elephants Dont Play Chess. Programmers, he said, should aim for AI that performs simpler tasks like understanding language or manipulating objects in the physical world than winning chess tournaments but that operates robustly in noisy complex domains rather than the sea of symbols that games provide. The programmers, however, did not heed his advice. Games conveniently offered a setting in which AI systems could compete against the top-ranked humans and against each other to easily quantify progress.

Jeopardy would be their next touchstone. In 2011, IBMs Watson, a natural language processing (NLP) and question-answer system built on a supercomputer, set out to beat Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter, the two best players in the history of the hit television game show. Research showed that in order to surpass human Jeopardy champions, a computer would have to be far more multi-faceted than Deep Blue was in 1997. For example, turn-taking doesnt exist in Jeopardy. Instead, a player has to decide, very quickly, how confident it is that it will be right. It also needed to be able to choose categories and clues, and to develop wagering strategies. Watson was able to manage all those tasks. When the game ended, the computer had won $77,147, Jennings $24,000, and Rutter $21,600. Jennings responded to his defeat with good humor. At the bottom of his Final Jeopardy response, broadcast live, he wrote, I, for one, welcome our new computer overlords.

In 2014, Google bought the UK start-up DeepMind, a company specializing in AI research and neural networks, and turned its attention to a new game board Go. Its AlphaGo program beat Gos reigning champion, Lee Sedol four games to one.

Recently, a research team at CMU built a Poker-playing bot that beat top professionals at six-player no-limit Texas holdem Poker. Unlike Chess and Go where you know the exact positions of your pieces and those of the opponent at any given time (i.e. games of perfect information), Poker is a game of imperfect information. Your opponent has hidden cards that influences their gameplay in the future. Having AI that can play Poker well is a huge step forward because most real-world interactions (e.g. consider negotiating with a counterparty) involve imperfect information.

So what comes next now that AI can beat humans at even Poker? What game would push machines to new levels of human-ness, in order to surpass humans? The history of computing has shown that what we conquer determines where we go next.

I recently spoke with James Barrat, a documentary filmmaker and author of The Final Invention. At some point in the conversation, the subject of games arose, and I asked him which one he thought computer scientists and their AI systems might tackle now that even Go had been conquered. He sat back, considered it, and finally said something Ive not been able to forget: I dont think there are any games left. The next game is reality.

This post is based on a chapter from my book A Humans Guide to Machine Intelligence.

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The Games That Machines Play. After Chess and Go, what game will | by Kartik Hosanagar | Jan, 2022 | OneZero - OneZero

As humans, familiarity is often sought after for comfort.

We enjoy routine, and the more we understand something, the more we're willing to accept it.

However, in the world of pro football, familiarity isn't always comfortable, especially when it comes to divisional opponents.

The Arizona Cardinals and Los Angeles Rams are set to meet for a third time on Monday night. The two teams split their first two meetings with the road team emerging victorious in each instance.

This time, the winner advances to the next round of the postseason while the loser packs their bags until next season.

Arizona and Los Angeles have played each other twice a season since the Cardinals joined the division from the NFC East following the league's realignment in 2002, yet this will be the first meeting between the two in the playoffs since 1975.

Aside from the Rams and Cardinals seeing each other twice each year, their respective head coaches (and play-callers) consider each other good friends.

Hes been awesome, Cardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury said Monday about Rams head coach Sean McVay.

We have a great relationship. Probably would be even closer if we werent in the same division, but its kind of hard to share some trade secrets whenever youre playing each other a couple times a year.

"But I think the world of Sean. The job hes done there. The consistency theyve had since hes been there, so its been fun to watch him have that type of success and Im always pulling for him except when they play us.

Since taking over Los Angeles, McVay holds a strong 9-1 record against the Cardinals. Only two of those games have been within one possession.

Defensive coordinator Raheem Morris is still in his first season with the Rams, but he understands just how much of a chess match the Cardinals and Rams present each other.

It's almost scary," said Morris on Friday.

"You go to those guys and you lose. And then I remember the first game we played them when we lost and I went to those guys and I say, Hey man, great game plan. That was awesome. And then I remember the second time we beat those guys and the head coach came to me and said, Man, it was a great plan, Rah. And those are the scariest moments, because he's just trying to lull you to sleep in that chess match, right?

"So let me go back to the drawing board, not try to act like you can recycle information. And you got to go through the whole process over and over again and make sure you do it right. And I think that's what the best thing about the chess game that you're talking about. It's like, what do you want to change? What is changing too much? And what do you want to repeat to try to see if you can get the same results.

Offensive coordinator Kevin O'Connell also alluded to Monday night as a chess match.

"It's a great question because you could talk yourself out of a lot just by knowing some of the things you've not only put on tape versus this opponent, but some of the other people that maybe play similar styles or similar matchups throughout the week in and week out process of the NFL season," said O'Connell.

"But at the same time, that's why we teach a lot of the things we do from a core foundational standpoint of our system. Because everything is built off the marriage of the run and the pass. It's built off of sameness and likeness and, really, attacking the defense in a smart way, having the ultimate respect for this opponent because they've played really, really good defense all year long.

"They've got skill players. They've got defensive skill at all three levels. It really is a challenge for us. So really what you're doing is you're really measuring the things you've been able to have success on, maybe things they've had success on against us. And then where does it all meet somewhere in the middle where we're actively trying to maybe take advantage of any area that we see and I'm sure they're doing the same over there.

"So, the chess match will go on. It obviously goes on all the way up until kickoff, but then, that can be a separator during that three-and-a-half-hour window on Monday night.

On the other side of the chess board is Kingsbury, who's an avid watcher of shows on various streaming servicesbut has not publicly stated if he's watched the popular chess-centralizedQueens Gambit series.

However, Kingsbury will once again have an opportunity to put his pieces in the right spots come Monday night. We'll see who plays better when the stakes are higher than before.

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Rams Finishing Preparations for Chess Match With Cardinals - Sports Illustrated

Bizarre sandy sculptures rising from the beach by Lake Michigan caught the eyes of at least two photographers in early January, who posted their images of the nature-made marvels online.

But what are these sandy statues and how on earth did they come to be?

Their construction depends on several factors, including sand-to-water content and wind conditions, said Daniel Bonn, a physicist and head of the van der Waals-Zeeman Institute at the University of Amsterdam.

Related: Photos of the mysterious sand dune shapes

The pillars, sometimes called hoodoos, were different heights, anywhere from 3 to 20 inches (7.6 to 51 centimeters) tall, said Terri Abbott, a nature photographer who lives in northern Indiana. Abbott was visiting Tiscornia Park in St. Joseph, Michigan, on Jan. 8, when she noticed the stunning shapes on the snowy beach.

"Laying on the ground and shooting through these sculptures made it seem like a different planet," Abbott told Live Science in a Facebook message. "They were frozen and hard to the touch. The intricate and ever-so-sharp edges made them each amazing in their own way."

Abbott had never seen sculptures like this before. "I could not believe how perfectly chiseled they were," she added.

Michigan's freezing winter temperatures helped set the stage for the formation of the weird, chess-like pieces, according to Bonn, who was the senior researcher on "How to construct the perfect sandcastle," a study published in the journal Scientific Reports in 2012.

"Roughly, I think that there are liquid patches in the sand that freeze when it gets cold," Bonn told Live Science in an email. The coast is a windy place, he noted. When the sand-laden wind blows into these frozen patches, two seemingly opposing actions happen: In one, some of the sand grains may attach to the frozen patch, making it grow, he said. "This then forms a roughly cylindrical consolidated sandcastle-like structure," Bonn said.

In another, the wind and the sand it carries can erode the sand pillars, taking sand away, which "leads to the rings and the asymmetric shape of the cylinder," Bonn said.

Some of the sand eroded from these pillars ends up elsewhere on the beach. In some photos, "you see that there are point-like structures downwind that result from the sandblasting of the cylinder," he said.

Joshua Nowicki, a photographer based in southwest Michigan, happened upon the same sand pillars at Tiscornia Park on Jan. 7 and 8. Nowicki, who has seen similar sand structures before, noted that though rare, these pillars can occur at any time of the year, "if there is wet sand and sustained high winds for several days." In most cases, "they only get bigger than a couple of inches tall when the sand is frozen (from rain, melted snow, spray from crashing waves)," Nowicki told Live Science in an email.

The sand sculptures he saw this year "are some of the tallest ones that I have ever photographed, the largest being about 15 inches [38 cm] tall and a couple of inches in diameter," Nowicki noted. "Along the beach, there were at least six groups with thirty or more of the sand structures in a group with one group having quite a few more."

Most pillars don't last long. Usually, within a few days "the wind completely erodes them or knocks them down; if the temperature goes up above freezing, they crumble; and often in the winter they soon get covered by drifting snow," Nowicki said.

The Tiscornia Park pillars crumbled earlier this week when temperatures started to warm, Nowicki said. "The fact that they only exist for a short time makes them very special," he said. "You have to be there at just the right time to see them when the shape is still well defined."

Originally published on Live Science.

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Weird sand 'chess pieces' dot Lake Michigan shore. Here's how they formed. - Livescience.com

With demoralisation spreading among PTI allies and partys legislators, the government is keen to stop the opposition making use of it. The government has therefore extended an invitation to the opposition to hold talks on issues near to the latters heart like electoral and judicial reforms and the appointment of a new NAB chairman. Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry claims that the prime minister himself had invited the opposition to negotiate on these three issues. This is likely to be rejected by the opposition as a tactical overture. Had it been a serious move Imran Khan would have been personally leading the government team. Instead Mr Chaudhry has once again categorically reiterated that Mr Khan would not sit with any opposition leader, including Shehbaz Sharif. At a time when the Army is seen to have distanced itself from the ruling party, the PM would not like to send the message to those who matter that he is not hobnobbing with the opposition.

What adds to the worries of the ruling party is that after fighting against one another for a whole year, the opposition parties have ended, in the main, their differences over tactics aimed at overthrowing the government. Instead of insisting on prior resignations from the Assemblies, the PML(N) and JUI(F) have instead agreed to the PPPs suggestion to work together for a no-confidence move against the government in the National Assembly. They know it is a long shot but consider it worth trying. Lacking the required numbers in the lower house, the opposition will have to lobby with the increasing number of dissidents in the PTI as well as its allies. The opposition leaders hope that due to the governments unpopular economic policies, public pressure would force a number of PTI lawmakers as well others from the allied parties to join hands with the opposition.

To the PTIs dismay, the issue of two marches on Islamabad can no longer be used to divide the opposition. As PPP chief Bilwal Bhutto Zardari has put it, the two different long marches would create more difficulties for the government. Many however still remain skeptical regarding the present display of unity among the opposition parties continuing for long.

Continue reading here:
Moves on the chess board - Pakistan Today

Buckhead cityhood legislation faced its first political challenges in the first week of the General Assemblys session with two chess moves aimed at a rapid checkmate.

Forthcoming legislation will seek to make any cityhood referendum a citywide vote rather than Buckhead-only. And the Senate version of the cityhood legislation, which is exclusively sponsored by Republicans, has been assigned to a committee with all Democratic members, though its chair says it will get a fair hearing.

Both appear to be chess moves against cityhood, for which backers must get General Assembly approval to place on the November ballot.

A peculiarity of the cityhood legislation is that it is sponsored exclusively by Republicans who do not represent Buckhead or Atlanta, while all-Democrat local lawmakers oppose it. Two of those legislators, Rep. Shea Roberts and Sen. Jen Jordan (who is also running for the Georgia attorney general position), are poised to file legislation requiring that any such referendum be conducted citywide and need a 57.5% supermajority to win. Roberts said she expects her version to get a first reading on Jan. 14.

The idea of such legislation was pitched in a Jan. 12 joint meeting of Atlantas House and Senate delegations by Edward Lindsey, a former state representative who is now co-chair of the anti-cityhood group the Committee for a United Atlanta. Lindsey noted that cityhood supporters have claimed that secession would be good for both Buckhead and Atlanta. He asked, why then do only the folks in Buckhead have the right to vote?

The pro-cityhood Buckhead City Committee did not respond to a comment request about the referendum-altering legislation.

The next move came Jan. 13 from Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, a Republican who has expressed skepticism about cityhood. Duncan assigned S.B. 324, the Senate version of the cityhood legislation, to the Urban Affairs Committee for consideration. The committees all-Democrat membership includes Sen. Nan Orrock, an Atlanta delegation member and vocal opponent of cityhood.

Some early political reaction was that the bill is likely to die in that committee, killing the cityhood effort for at least this year. However, the committee chair, Sen. Lester Jackson (D-Savannah), said in a phone interview that the bill will get a fair consideration.

I have not taken a position one way or another on the bill, said Jackson. He added that he personally does not think of it in a partisan way and that he is familiar with traditional cityhood efforts, including the failed 2019 proposal for Skidaway Island, an island near Savannah, to incorporate. He said he is not aware of any movements in the Savannah area for a Buckhead-like secession version of cityhood.

I know Ive had similar bills like this in my own community and I really think the lieutenant governor is doing the right thing [with the committee assignment], because it truly is an urban affairs issue, Jackson said.

Our committee will be transparent and it will be fair, and it will take time out to listen to all of the concerns of the general public on this issue, Jackson said. So everyones voice will be considered.

He indicated that, after a hearing, the committee will see where we should go with this legislation. He said he did not want to make any predetermination of what that result would be.

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Buckhead cityhood legislation challenged by political chess moves in first week of General Assembly session - Buckhead.com