Itisfuninthesun

Beyond the Internet of Things and cognitive computing, what do you think the next major breakthrough in technology/computing will be?

That is an interesting perspective. I am also interested in human/machine interfaces, but it can be somewhat concerning. If we merge the human brain and machines to much, and knowledge can be obtained by a simple download what would the true measure of intelligence be? In my opinion at that point it would be creativity and artistic expression because advanced book/technical knowledge will be everyone's starting point.

I would argue that creativity is only on the realm humans because the creative outcome still would need to be judged against perceptions that humans have already set in place.

Take your example of Chef Watson for instance. You are completely correct that computers are good at randomness and Watson can create a variety of different recipes from ingredients that humans couldn't conceive of. However they ultimately would be judged against preset conditions that humans would put in place like taste, spice, texture etc.

I suppose a computer can be creative, but it is only because it was calibrated with conditions/parameters that humans put in place.

Sorry for the long winded answer, but it is not every day I get geek out this hard.

Ps. I am a big fan of IBMblr and everything they do! I am a long time follower. ^{_^}