This week, a human sat across from a computer screen in Seoul, South Korea. Between them was a table, and on that table was a Go game board.The human player, Lee Sedol, is known for being more aggressive, eager to speed into a fight; the computer, AlphaGo, is understood to have a more conservative opening leading to a steadily stronger game. Both players were aiming to surprise each other.Wow! #AlphaGo wins a second time! Completely surreal… Huge respect for Lee Sedol. Amazing battle! pic.twitter.com/ZIQtXositN
— Mustafa Suleyman (@mustafasuleymn) March 10, 2016
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In the second half, editorial fellow Louise Matsakis looks at the Center for Applied Rationality, which runs a workshop that teaches humans that in some cases, it makes more sense to think more like computers.Both lessons apply in the Go match."It is different preparing for a game against a non-person," Sedol said before the matches. "When I prepare for a match against a person, it is important to read that person's energy. But I can't do that in this match and so it may feel like playing the game all by myself."
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