The guy who stopped Go Programming Development ...


From the guy who stopped Go Programming Development ...

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World Go News from the American Go Association
July 26, 2007; Volume 8, #56

[ ... ]

SAVING GO: A Modest Proposal to Programmers (Stop!)
By Paul Celmer

Now that checkers has been crushed and a computer has defeated the world
champion at chess, will go be the last great game to fall to the robots? Let?s
hope not. I hereby call upon any programmer working on computer go to stop
now.

Why? First of all, computer go would devalue human achievement. Professional
go players start training at a young age and work for years to attain top
rankings. Professional-level go-playing computers would devalue these heroic
efforts, making these rare skills available at the local big-box computer
store. When computers took over chess, former world champion Gary Kasparov,
arguably one of the greatest chess players in history, retired from the game
that allowed his brilliance to sparkle and is now reduced to seeking worthy
challenges in politics. I don?t think even the most cold hearted of us would
want our spectacular champion go players to suffer such a fate.

Computer go would also mar the beauty of our game. Part of beauty is mystery,
and if go is ever ?solved,? it too, would be reduced to mindless tic-tac-toe.
It would be an amazing technical achievement to develop the software and
hardware to create an entire orchestra of symphony-playing robots. But
shouldn?t some things -- music, art, and poetry, just to think of a few --
remain our own human domain? The go board should be preserved as a place where
humanity can dream free.

I am no anti-technology Luddite. I embrace useful advances in science and
technology, have owned a computer since the dawn of the PC age and of course I
have a DVD player and a cellphone. I have no grudge against programmers and
think we actually need even more in many areas including alternative energy
development and medical diagnostic software. But we just don?t need a computer
go program that can beat humans.

No good can come from having our noble game and all its beautiful traditions
reduced to digital bits. Just because something can be done does not mean it
should be done. Who remembers the names of those who programmed the computer
that defeated Kasparov? Programmers, turn your praiseworthy ingenuity and
drive towards another mountain and leave go to stand unconquered, gleaming and
majestic. You will give up the chance to win the millions promised to the
first to develop a pro-level program, but you?ll save our art and better yet,
when next we meet, I?ll buy you a drink to celebrate!

Celmer 1d is a technical writer in Garner, North Carolina.



Text material published in the AMERICAN GO E JOURNAL may be
reproduced by any recipient: please credit the AGEJ as the source.
.

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