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Also by Stephen Baker:

Where Does It Hurt?, May 2014
Hardcover / e-Book
Final Jeopardy, February 2011
Hardcover
The Numerati, August 2008
Hardcover

FINAL JEOPARDY
By: Stephen Baker

Man vs. Machine and the Quest to Know Everything

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
February 2011
On Sale: February 17, 2011
288 pages
ISBN: 0547483163
EAN: 9780547483160
Hardcover
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Non-Fiction

What if there were a computer that could answer virtually any question? IBM engineers are developing such a machine, teaching it to compete on the quiz show Jeopardy. In February 2011, it will face off in a nationally televised game against two of the game’s greatest all-time winners, Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter. Final Jeopardy tells the riveting story behind the match.

Final Jeopardy carries readers on a captivating journey from the IBM lab to the podium. The story features brilliant Ph.D.s, Hollywood moguls, knowledge-obsessed Jeopardy masters — and a very special collection of silicon and circuitry named Watson. It is a classic match of Man vs. Machine, not seen since Deep Blue bested chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov. But Watson will need to do more than churn through chess moves or find a relevant web page. It will have to understand language, including puns and irony, and master everything from history and literature to science, arts, and entertainment.

At its heart, Final Jeopardy is about the future of knowledge. What can we teach machines? What will Watson’s heirs be capable of in ten or twenty years? And where does that leave humans? As fast and fun as the game itself, Final Jeopardy shows how smart machines will fit into our world — and how they’ll disrupt it.

Media Buzz

On Point - February 16, 2011
Talk of the Nation - February 11, 2011