Human Computation
If you have ever been asked to enter the numbers in an image to prove you are a human, versus a computer program perhaps while subscribing to something or requesting information or posting something like a comment to this blog, you have been using some of the work created by the person in this video.
The video is a speech by the person who created the ESP Game. It is great.
The speech is very interesting, well, to me anyway. But it brings to light the importance of the work of humans on the internet and the power of community.
The video will give you some insight.
To play the game go to the site.
What do you think, are humans actually smarter than computers?
What do you think of the power of "community" now?
Gene A. Wright
posted by Gene A. Wright @ 11:11 AM
1 Comments:
What do you think, are humans actually smarter than computers?
It depends on what definition you use to define “smart”. For example, Merriam-Webster defines “smart” as:
Mentally alert: BRIGHT b : KNOWLEDGEABLE c : SHREWD
Mentally quick and resourceful, marked by wit or ingenuity, revealing or reflecting good judgment or sound thought.
Computers definitely have the capacity to perform mathematical calculations much quicker and more accurately than humans can but they cannot exercise wit, ingenuity, good judgment or sound thought. Their ability to interpret data such as the contents of pictures or rationalize what is contained in them using common sense and reason will never be as good as humans. In this respect, computers are not as smart as humans. Computers are simply tools that can be used to accomplish certain tasks more efficiently and expeditiously than humans can but they will never be able to process information in quite the same way as humans do. The speaker in the video has a valid point in utilizing human computing power to augment that of actual computers. What would be the point of spending money to develop a computer to emulate human computing power when it is already abundantly available?
What do you think of the power of "community" now?
I find it amazing that people can spend the amount of time playing the game as was stated in the video. However, equally amazing was how the games inventor was able to package the game in such a way that he was able to get people to do value added work for free. If this isn’t a lesson in marketing I not sure what is! This is clearly an example of creative thought that only a human could come up with. From a marketing perspective, the value of creating of such a community of users is immeasurable. Would it be possible for a community of customers to conduct value add marketing research for no cost to a supplier? Given this example, I don’t see why not.
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