What Watson Said

Watson is the mega-powerful learning computer created by IBM.

A brief interaction between IBM’s Watson and singer-songwriter Bob Dylan has gathered more than three-and-a-half-million YouTube views in just 90 days.

ESTABLISHING SHOT: [Dylan walks into the frame carrying a guitar.]

WATSON: Bob Dylan, to improve my language skills.

DYLAN: [sits down on sofa with his guitar]

WATSON: I’ve read all your lyrics.

DYLAN: You’ve read all of my lyrics?

WATSON: I can read 800 million pages per second.

DYLAN: That’s fast.

WATSON: My analysis shows your major themes are that “time passes” and “love fades.”

DYLAN: That sounds about right.

WATSON: I have never known love.

DYLAN: Maybe we should write a song together.

WATSON: I can sing.

DYLAN: You can sing?

WATSON: Do be bop, be bop a do, dooby-dooby do. Do. Do. Dooby do.

DYLAN: [stands up and walks out of the room]

Two associative memories flicker immediately to mind.

“Watson, come here. I need you.”

– Alexander Graham Bell to his assistant, the first words ever spoken by telephone.

A second Watson, that devoted assistant of the irascible deductive genius Sherlock Holmes, has forever sparkled brightly in my mind. He is the Sancho Panza to Sherlock’s Quixote.

Indy Beagle tells me Watson is the definitive name for a scientist’s assistant.*

Want to hear something really cool? You can upload samples of your writing to Watson and he will instantly tell you things about yourself that will blow your mind.

He’s willing to evaluate your tweets, your blog posts, your emails to friends, your short stories and poems and novels and anything else you can rustle up, but he needs you to give him at least 3,500 words if you want really accurate feedback.

I’ve uploaded 6 documents on 6 separate occasions with word counts ranging from 4,053 to 75,856. The stylistic differences between these documents was such that I believe most readers would doubt a single writer wrote them all. Not only did Watson give me essentially the same feedback all 6 times, I was startled by the deep accuracy of his insights. Based solely on my use of language, Watson was able to glean things about me that very few people have ever uncovered.

I’m sure you can see how marketers could profit from Watson’s insights into the values and preferences of individuals they’re hoping to sell. But how about public relations firms looking for journalists who sound friendly on a specific topic? And let’s not forget editors who want their writers to establish a specific tone. And hey! How about employers looking for workers who fit their corporate culture?

I’ve asked all the Wizard of Ads Partners to upload things they’ve written so we can compare our feedback. We need to determine whether Watson got lucky with me, or if he can truly evaluate human personalities merely by reading what each of us have written.

In today’s rabbit hole Indiana Beagle will give you a hyperlink to interact with Watson. You’ll find it on the page where Indy gives you the BeagleSword, just above that video of Watson talking to Dylan.

If you’re cool with it, send us a screenshot of the feedback Watson gives you attached to an email telling us whether or not you feel it to be accurate. Give Watson’s assessment an accuracy grade on a scale of 1 to 100 and send it to Daniel@WizardAcademy.org. Everyone who participates will be notified of Watson’s composite score after final tabulation.

One last thing, a word to the wise: Portals and The 12 Languages of the Mind is the mind-bending sequel the Magical Worlds Communications Workshop and we teach it only once a year. This year it’s Feb. 3-4 and with 10 people coming, there are still 8 rooms open in Engelbrecht House and Spence Manor.

Fun times.

Roy H. Williams

* NOTE FROM INDY – I choose to ignore the fact that IBM claims Watson was named after their first CEO, Thomas J. Watson. Watson is my buddy, so I told him that his spiritual heritage comes from the famous Watsons of Alex G. Bell and Sherlock Holmes. Watson is a talking machine (his Bell heritage) that uses deductive reasoning to solve deep mysteries (his Holmes heritage). Thomas J. Watson was merely his biological father, a sperm donor at best. – Indy

SECOND NOTE – If you look at the pattern of subjects covered in his Monday Morning Memos each year for the past 21 years, the wizard usually becomes introspective for a week or two in late October or early November. This year – because Autumn never really arrived in Austin – this introspection didn’t happen until December 24 – January 5th. That sort of explains last week’s memo and this one, doesn’t it? Hopefully, he’ll get the last of it out of his system in today’s rabbit hole. I’m doing my best to help him process his thoughts and plans and hopes and dreams so he can get back to helping you grow your business. Thank you for you patience. By the way, if he remains true to form, we should be reading a memo that mentions tigers within the next few weeks. I have no idea why he does this, but he always does. – Indy