Althouse: Google is becoming human: It responded to a search by telling a joke!

February 27, 2011

Google is becoming human: It responded to a search by telling a joke!

25 comments:

rhhardin said...: That's human intervention in the code at Google's end.; 2/27/11, 12:17 PM
Unknown said...: Maybe it's just trying harder to build its image as a Citizen of the World.

Nag A Ram

Sounds like the Eduardo Cianelli character in the movie version of, "Gunga Din".; 2/27/11, 12:24 PM
I'm a Shaaaaark said...: Oh no! SkyNet is online!; 2/27/11, 12:30 PM
Known Unknown said...: This made Urban Dictionary back in October.

Here's a more elaborate nag a ram; 2/27/11, 12:35 PM
Ann Althouse said...: "That's human intervention in the code at Google's end."

Yeah, I know. But still....; 2/27/11, 12:37 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: Nag A Ram; 2/27/11, 12:49 PM
Charlie Martin said...: That's human intervention in the code at Google's end.

Y'think?; 2/27/11, 12:54 PM
Too many jims said...: "Nag a ram"? Ewe wouldn't do that, would ewe?; 2/27/11, 12:56 PM
doubtinggaurav said...: It is an Easter egg, other famous google Easter egg is H2G2 ref.\, other eggs here; 2/27/11, 12:58 PM
Dose of Sanity said...: hahah Shaaark.; 2/27/11, 1:06 PM
JAL said...: Professor ... I think not.

You need to spend less time at the Rotunda.; 2/27/11, 1:08 PM
A "Shotgun" Gold said...: Interesting that if you search Google for images of "nag a ram" the results include pics of Andy Warhol and David Archuleta.

I don't dare turn the filter off and check the results then. Or do I...?; 2/27/11, 1:24 PM
Anonymous said...: Little Johnny walked into his parents' bedroom one evening and caught them Hiding the Salami. He asked them what they were doing. "Well Johnny," his father replied, "you know that little brother you want? I'm putting him into Mommy."

When the father came home from work the next day he found Johnny sitting on the front stoop, crying his eyes out. He asked Johnny what was wrong, and the boy replied "Mr. Jones from next door came over to see Mommy today, and he ATE my baby brother!"

Peter; 2/27/11, 1:38 PM
Nena's 99 Luftballons Song said...: REAL funny.; 2/27/11, 1:49 PM
I'm a Shaaaaark said...: Heard a similar joke years ago, but instead the father replies, "Your mom and I are making a baby brother for you." Ro which the child replies "Well, turn her over. I'd rather have a puppy."; 2/27/11, 1:56 PM
Kirby Olson said...: A neat article in WSJ by John Searle last Wednesday claimed that computers can never become conscious of what they are doing.

A computer named Watson won the show called Jeopardy, but Searle's claim is,

Watson Doesn't Know it Won on Jeopardy! (title of article)

"IBM's computer was not and could not have been designed to understand. Rather, it was designed to simulate understanding, to act as if it understood. It is an evasion to say, as some commentators have put it, that computer understanding is different from human understanding. Literally speaking, there is no such thing as computer understanding. There is only simulation."

That's the last paragraph by Searle, a philosopher at UC-Berkeley.

Deep Blue, likewise, in some box somewhere, isn't aware that it beat a top flight chess champ.

So either this is just a stroke of luck, or was programmed, and did have human intervention. It's still funny.

Whatever verbal humor is, it seems to be an exclusive property of humans (which is why Obama shows so little of it, while Bush was full of it).; 2/27/11, 1:57 PM
Issob Morocco said...: I thought it became human when it started snitching on our searches and reporting them to the government.; 2/27/11, 1:58 PM
Chip S. said...: I guess "ram a nag" would have been sexist.; 2/27/11, 2:03 PM
A "Shotgun" Gold said...: You read on Google news that Watson won Jeopardy! Watson "scours" databases and gets a hit on Google news that it won on Jeopardy!

Other than the electrical wiring, how is it different?; 2/27/11, 2:18 PM
Barbara said...: Chip: I guess "ram a nag" would have been sexist.

My first (and probably best, unless things pick up) laugh aloud of the day.

You're terrific, Chip, and your cooking's not bad either.; 2/27/11, 2:33 PM
sakredkow said...: I think that's an example of the Turing test that someone (FormerLawStudent?) mentioned in another thread this morning.; 2/27/11, 2:43 PM
Anonymous said...: A "Shotgun" Gold --

You read on Google news that Watson won Jeopardy! Watson "scours" databases and gets a hit on Google news that it won on Jeopardy!

Other than the electrical wiring, how is it different?

Understanding.; 2/27/11, 3:22 PM
Kirby Olson said...: phx and oligoncella, exactly! In one word, understanding.

"To grasp the meaning of..." Webster's.; 2/27/11, 5:19 PM
Andrew Koenig said...: Try searching for "recursion"; 2/27/11, 10:12 PM
Brian said...: Mycroft Holmes lives!; 2/28/11, 3:05 PM