26 Joseph Barker on Artificial Intelligence, Strategy, and Games

Today’s episode is slightly different than our other entries. We have another interview episode, this time with Joseph Barker, who has a PhD in artifical intelligence, and whom I quoted in the last episode about the mechanical Turk. Instead of talking about fake, illusory artificial intelligence, this episode is devoted to how real, actual machines play games and formulate strategy. The picture below shows Claude Shannon (whom Barker mentions in the podcast) and his chess machine at MIT in 1950. The machine, impressive at the time, could handle all of six chess pieces.                                   Related Links: Barker mentioned John Von Neumann and Prisoner’s Dilemma by William Poundstone is an excellent introduction to Von Neumann and his ideas. Read more about Claude Shannon, a pioneer of chess programming. A good rundown from Slate about everything wrong with A Beautiful Mind. Play Dots and Boxes online courtesy the UCLA math department.