>> In computer chess, the methods that defeated the world champion, Kasparov, in
1997, were based on massive, deep search.<p>"Massive, deep search" that started from a book of opening moves and the
combined expert knowledge of several chess Grandmasters. And that was an
instance of the minimax algorithm with alpha-beta cutoff, i.e. a search
algorithm specifically designed for two-player, deterministic games like
chess. And with a hand-crafted evaluation function, whose parameters were
filled-in by self-play. But still, an evaluation function; because the minimax
algorithm requires one and blind search alone did not, could not, come up with
minimax, or with the concept of an evaluation function in a million years.
Essentially, human
expertise about what matters in the game was baked-in to Deep Blue's design
from the very beginning and permeated every aspect of its design.<p>Of course, ultimately, search was what allowed Deep Blue to beat Kasparov
(3½–2½; Kasparov won two games and drew another). That, in the sense that the
alpha-beta minimax algorithm itself is a search algorithm and it goes without
saying that a longer, deeper, better search will inevitably eventually
outperform whatever a human player is doing, which clearly is not search.<p>But, rather than an irrelevant "bitter" lesson about how big machines can
perfom more computations than a human, a really useful lesson -and one that we
haven't yet learned, as a field- is why humans can do so well <i>without
search</i>. It is clear to anyone who has played any board game that humans can't
search ahead more than a scant few ply, even for the simplest games. And yet,
it took 30 years (counting from the Dartmouth workshop) for a computer chess
player to beat an expert human player. And almost 60 to beat one in Go.<p>No, no. The biggest question in the field is not one that is answered by "a
deeper search". The biggest question is "how can we do that without a search"?<p>Also see Rodney Brook's "better lesson" [2] addressing the other successes of
big search discussed in the article.<p>_____________<p>[1] <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_Blue_(chess_computer)#Design" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_Blue_(chess_computer)#Des...</a><p>[2] <a href="https://rodneybrooks.com/a-better-lesson/" rel="nofollow">https://rodneybrooks.com/a-better-lesson/</a>