-> DEEP BLUE DEBRIEFING
-> IBM's Deep Blue computer was programmed to evaluate a total of about
-> 20 billion moves within the three-minute window allotted for each
-> move in a formal chess match.  That capability is enough to consider
-> every possible move and countermove 12 sequences ahead and selected
-> lines of attack as much as 30 moves beyond that.  The fact that this
-> omniscience was not enough to beat a mere human is "amazing," says
-> one of Deep Blue's programmers.  The lesson here, says another, is
-> that chess masters such as Kasparov "are doing some mysterious
-> computation we can't figure out."
SK>Besides the comments about the abilities of the human mind, I think this
SK>also underscores the position that computers will not be able to replace
SK>human teachers in the classroom.
That might be stretching the point a bit !  I'm by no
means an expert chess player, but my limited experience is
that in addition to learning (and memorizing) the established 
"lines", a chessmaster also develops a kind of "feel" for 
positioning and game flow.  This leads him/her to sort of
wander in a direction which "feels" right until the position
or circumstances offer a clear series of moves to some end,
whether it be a material gain (captures), positional gain 
(initiative), or a conclusion (checkmate).  The computer,
otoh, is reviewing known moves and/or making "choices" that
are based upon unknown algorithms (and it is here that the 
computer may be vulnerable; if its means of choicemaking in 
situations which are nondefined are limited, the superior 
"feel" of the chessmaster should prevail).  My guess is that 
if the chessmaster can stay even through the opening, which 
is the most clearly defined portion of the game, s/he can 
take the initiative in the middle game which is much more 
fluid and ill-defined.
In this sense, the "flow" in the classroom might be something
which a computer will not be able to follow either, and may,
indeed, indicate that human teachers will not be replaced by
them.....
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