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Old 09-January-2009, 10:58 PM
Jeff Root Jeff Root is online now
Order of Kilopi
 
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Minneapolis
Posts: 6,176
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Arneb View Post
They are in Serpens Caput (I was totally flattened when Jeff hit the
nail on the head there. Was he using some kind of magic or what?
As he explained later, he was smart, but also was he lucky).
I was away from my computer the day before yesterday and most
of yesterday. Yesterday afternoon I said to my mom and my sister
something I've said a few times before over the years, though I don't
recall if I've said it online: It's good to be smart, but it is better to
be lucky. My sister didn't much like that notion, but since I'm the
undisputed smart one in the family....

Or was that "smartass"? Whatever.

Nice discussion about how the game works, even if you thought you
were wrestling rather than discussing.

I haven't had many opportunities to play twenty questions. It is
certainly a children's game, and one of the best games I know of.
With straight trivia questions, generally you either know the answer,
and giving that answer is trivial, or you don't know the answer, and
you can't do anything. With twenty questions, an intelligent player
can make progress and has a good chance of winning even if he
knows nothing about the subject.

I hope that it is not and never will be possible for computers to
play twenty questions.

-- Jeff, in Minneapolis
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