Ah, breathe in the crisp fall air and the scent of fresh-baked Pumpkin Pie in anticipation of our Thanksgiving holiday. This traditional pie and holiday in the USA and Canada may bring back memories to you of some happy times, meals, conversations, friendships, and family.
Hmm, hearing the words “Pumpkin Pie” brings to my mind the sight of my holiday slice of dessert pie, the smell of its cinnamon and spices, the taste of the pumpkin fruit, the touch of the flaky, hot crust, the sounds of people complimenting whoever baked the pie, and the enjoyment of a good cup of coffee to go along with it all. Do you hold the same vivid memories of those wonderful sensations of taste and smell? Or, perhaps your tradition includes a different pie or dessert ā we should be open to such differences. My wifeās uncle prefers Cherry Pie.
Psychologically, we store such data from our five physical senses concerning our favorite pie as information in the memory of our brains. We think about it and tell others what the perceptions of our senses are. We also understand what is meant by good Pumpkin Pie and by having a happy Thanksgiving Day. We add these understandings to our knowledge ā ideas stored in our brains. When a new Thanksgiving dinner guest asks us what would be a good pie to bring, we apply our knowledge to this situation, and in our wisdom recommend Pumpkin Pie, of course!
If you search Google on your PC or Smartphone for āPumpkin Pie recipeā you can find thousands of internet links! It is very popular, especially this time of year. Sounds like Iām evangelizing Pumpkin Pie, doesnāt it?
Earlier this year, a super-computer named WatsonĀ®, an IBMTM invention, appeared on JEOPARDY! – America’s Favorite Quiz ShowĀ®. It beat two of the programās historically best human champions in three highly publicized appearances. This computer was programmed for working with our ānatural languageā and could analyze attributes of datum such as Pumpkin Pie.
Here is a simplified, hypothetical example of how that all works. Before the show, this type of computer gathers a large amount of data reported by humans regarding Pumpkin Pie – ingredients, baking process, what our human senses communicate to our brains about it, how we think about it, and what we say and write about it. That data is considered āRelated Informationā and is stored in electronic memory to become part of the computerās knowledge base.
If JEOPARDY! Ā® gave the clue: āThis Pie is traditionally served at Thanksgiving dinners and contains a squash-type fruit and cinnamon spice,ā the super computer would search its memory, compute success probabilities, and reply in a few thousandths of a second: āWhat is Pumpkin Pie?ā It can come up with such replies faster than your finger can press the contestantās signal button to be recognized. Lastly, it verbalizes its responses to humans in synthesized speech.
WatsonĀ® has never eaten and enjoyed a Pumpkin Pie like you and I have. Instead, it has stored the information about our sensations written by humans. It then comes up with the correct answer and appears knowledgeable, wise, and faster than we humans.
Thereās the old childrenās joke: Computer, āPi R Square.ā ā Baker, āNo, pies are round, cakes are square.ā Context and spelling are important. We do need that mathematical formula to calculate the area of a circle and use it to build bridges, buildings, and space stations.
So, we have our human senses, and computers can memorize our information attributes. I thank God we have all of these resources. But at our Thanksgiving tables, we can be very grateful for all the physical, intellectual, and spiritual blessings we humans have received.
I sincerely hope you, your friends, and your family enjoy Thanksgiving Day with all your human feelings and multi-dimensional capabilities. WatsonĀ® cannot enjoy it like we can.
