Design and Architecture
Watson Mixes Drinks; Streetfight: Moses, Jacobs, Sadik-Khan
Is artificial intelligence a threat to "human culture and history" or a pleasant addition to it? DnA meets Watson and considers the implications of assistance from 'cognitive computing' in our daily lives. Plus, a new opera dramatizes the epic battle between Robert Moses and Jane Jacobs, and Janette Sadik-Khan continues the fight over the streets of New York.
By Frances Anderton • • 29m ListenArtificial intelligence threatens to "destroy human history and culture," wrote a Korean journalist after champion Go player Lee Se-dol lost to Google’s AlphaGo A. But IBM offers a friendlier picture: with a little help from Watson’s cognitive computing, we will have more interesting cocktails and gift choices. Is that what we need, and does Watson get it right? Plus, a new opera dramatizes the epic battle between Robert Moses and Jane Jacobs, and Janette Sadik-Khan continues the fight over the streets of New York, employing the might of Moses and the human scale of Jacobs.
Photo: Pepper, the face of AI
In this episode
3 storiesDo Androids Dream of Cocktails?
Remember Watson, the IBM supercomputer who beat out a Jeopardy champion a few years back? Last week he was back, at an interactive display at South by Southwest, helping visitors with crafting cocktails and choosing gifts. Sounds fun, but what does it mean to have "cognitive computing" seeping into our daily lives?
Read the story14 min'A Marvelous Order'
Robert Moses was the super-powerful planner who built pools and parks for New Yorkers but also engineered a car-based future for the region. He met his match in Jane Jacobs, a mother of three living in Greenwich Village, who went on to write the highly influential book, The Death and Life of Great American Cities .
Read the story6 minStreetfight
Janette Sadik-Khan was Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s transportation commissioner from 2007 to 2013. Under her watch, she led a very public battle to add 400 miles of bike lanes and establish more than 60 pedestrian plazas in the city, most notably -- and controversially -- closing five blocks of Broadway to cars in Times Square.
Read the story9 min
