Stanford University
Consulting professor at Stanford University, where he teaches forecasting, and managing director at Discern Analytics, a forecasting company
PROFILE
Paul Saffo
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FROM Paul Saffo
To the Point
Are Computers Learning to Think? In 1997, IBM's " Deep Blue " computer defeated chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov. This week, " Watso n" defeated two champion humans on Jeopardy . Because Watson answered some tricky questions, IBM says the machine has "the ability to understand natural human language." Watson isn't available on your laptop — yet. It's a supercomputer the size of 10 refrigerators, programmed by 25 IBM scientists with the equivalent of one million books, including entire encyclopedias. It performs 80 trillion operations per second. But does Watson really think? Super-computers already invest on Wall Street and land airplanes at busy airports. What will they do next? Is artificial intelligence nearing the point where it replaces not just our jobs but also our minds?
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To the Point
Remembering George H.W. Bush A balanced look at George H.W. Bush includes: the smear campaign that won him the White House, his successes in war and diplomacy, and his almost forgotten role as an environmental president. Also what lies ahead for the UK, if there’s no agreement on Brexit?
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Idaho or Bust – Californians Make an Impact in Boise The housing crisis is pushing Californians out of the Golden State and into cheaper housing markets around the country. Boise, Idaho, has become the fastest growing metro area in the nation… and a lot of those newcomers are former Californians.Our dollars go a lot further there, but that’s causing a bit of friction with the locals.
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One Year Later: How Ojai Weathered the Thomas Fire Ventura County residents recall how the largest fire in state history, at the time, ignited and threatened to engulf the city of Ojai.
The 805
A call to prepare for the next natural disaster A local environmentalist says we should spend more time and money preparing for natural disasters than responding to them. A Ventura resident who lost his home in the Thomas Fire says rebuilding is taking longer than he’d hoped. Local animal shelters are becoming critical evacuation centers. And California counties must now hold public meetings on their relationship with federal immigration agents.