Answers.Body: <p>I guess that they would be only <em>marginally</em> better. And be aware that <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watson_%28computer%29" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Watson</a> itself is <em>already</em> a cluster of (quite big) computers (citing Wikipedia):</p>
  
  <blockquote>
    <p>Watson employs a cluster of ninety IBM Power 750 servers, each of which uses a 3.5 GHz POWER7 eight-core processor, with four threads per core. In total, the system has 2,880 POWER7 processor threads and 16 terabytes of RAM</p>
  </blockquote>
  
  <p>Because of the rules of Jeopardy, Watson was not allowed to use the Web <em>during</em> the game. At some very high level, it contains a <em>digested</em> cache of some of the Web contents. Giving access to the Internet would improve slightly Watson's performance, but not that much.</p>
  
  <blockquote>
    <p>if you asked the Watson-web to diagnose a person's as-yet-undiagnosed disease, would the web be able to do so more quickly?</p>
  </blockquote>
  
  <p>Even if by "web" you mean a more powerful cluster accessing the entire Internet, I don't think that it would answer <em>much</em> more quickly &amp; accurately.</p>
  
  <p>AI is a diversity of sub-domains, and is not advancing as dramatically as some believe. It follows a gradual progression, with in some <em>limited</em> fields (playing Go, or Jeopardy) some spectacular progresses. See also <a href="http://bootstrappingartificialintelligence.fr/WordPress3/2016/11/everything-but-the-essential/" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><em>Everything but the essential</em></a> blog entry by J.Pitrat.</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2017-01-23T06:36:29.453Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2017-01-23T06:36:29.453Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: Basile Starynkevitch
Body: <p>If you had a web of linked Watson-level super-computers, would they be more effective at problem-solving than a single Watson computer alone?</p>
  
  <p>For example, if you asked the Watson-web to diagnose a person's as-yet-undiagnosed disease, would the web be able to do so more quickly?</p>
  
Tags: <watson><problem-solving>
Title: Would linked Watson supercomputers be even "smarter" than one Watson?
UserDisplayName: Officefan55
ThreadText: # Would linked Watson supercomputers be even "smarter" than one Watson?
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2017-01-22)
  
  If you had a web of linked Watson-level super-computers, would they be more effective at problem-solving than a single Watson computer alone?
  
  For example, if you asked the Watson-web to diagnose a person's as-yet-undiagnosed disease, would the web be able to do so more quickly?
  
  **Tags:** watson, problem-solving
  
  
  ---
  
  ## 1 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_1 on 2017-01-23. Score: 0 | Accepted answer
  
  I guess that they would be only *marginally* better. And be aware that [Watson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watson_%28computer%29) itself is *already* a cluster of (quite big) computers (citing Wikipedia):
  
  > Watson employs a cluster of ninety IBM Power 750 servers, each of which uses a 3.5 GHz POWER7 eight-core processor, with four threads per core. In total, the system has 2,880 POWER7 processor threads and 16 terabytes of RAM
  
  Because of the rules of Jeopardy, Watson was not allowed to use the Web *during* the game. At some very high level, it contains a *digested* cache of some of the Web contents. Giving access to the Internet would improve slightly Watson's performance, but not that much.
  
  > if you asked the Watson-web to diagnose a person's as-yet-undiagnosed disease, would the web be able to do so more quickly?
  
  Even if by "web" you mean a more powerful cluster accessing the entire Internet, I don't think that it would answer *much* more quickly & accurately.
  
  AI is a diversity of sub-domains, and is not advancing as dramatically as some believe. It follows a gradual progression, with in some *limited* fields (playing Go, or Jeopardy) some spectacular progresses. See also [*Everything but the essential*](http://bootstrappingartificialintelligence.fr/WordPress3/2016/11/everything-but-the-essential/) blog entry by J.Pitrat.
  
  
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