Yesterday’s first round of man vs. machine Jeopardy ended in a tie. The second round was not so kind to our organic champions. To put it succinctly, they had their asses handed to them.
As of this today these are the scores
Ken Jennings: $4,800
Brad Rutter: $10,000
Watson: $35,754
Buzzer Speed
Buzzer speed continues to be Watson’s big advantage. It’s considerably quicker on the trigger than Jennings and Rutter, and they are the fastest guns in the west.
Watson’s Gambling Problems
Watson’s score of $35,754 is a strange score for Jeopardy. This is because when faced with Daily Doubles and Final Jeopardy, Watson pulls some strange numbers from its shiny metal ass.
I’m sure it has some algorithm dictating its bets, but the numbers it generates are very odd.
Is this the end for our intrepid heroes?
Yeah, probably. Even if you combine the scores of the two humans, they aren’t even close to Watson’s score.
It seems to me that Jennings and Rutter are fiercely battling for second place. Rutter didn’t go all-in during Final Jeopardy, most likely because he really doesn’t want to lose to Jennings. Rutter is the only undefeated player in Jeopardy history. If he places second at least he will be able to claim that he has never been bested by a human competitor.
Who know? There’s one more day of competition, and that means that there is still time for one of our meatbag champions to go John Henry on Watson and win.
The Geek Whisperer 
I’m rooting for our heroes. I enjoy watching people vs. machine but I’m gladder when humans win.
Agreed Poc. As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, I really want Jennings or Rutter to win simply because if they can’t, no one ever will.