Claude Shannon, the father of information theory, first proposed the idea of programming a computer to play chess in 1950. This history is suggestively sketched by Monty Newborn, a leading figure in computer chess. IBM's victory did not come out of the blue: designing a program to defeat a human world champion has been an explicit goal of computer science and artificial intelligence research since the 1950's. What is the significance of Kasparov losing to a computer? Does this signal the beginning of the end of human intellectual superiority, thus consigning humans to a subservient role behind computers? Or is the victory of the computer as inconsequential as an automobile outracing a human runner or a bulldozer moving more earth than a human shoveler? That is, have we simply created a technology that outperforms humans but is ultimately designed and controlled by humans? Is chess itself a legitimate gauge to measure the intellectual capacity of computers (or humans), or are there more complex activities that would serve as a better litmus test? To answer these questions one must determine if Deep Blue was consciously playing chess or merely carrying out commands made by human programmers. At the center of these debates are several important questions. Some historiographic boundaries of this historic event are already forming, and I imagine these will continue to shape interpretations into the foreseeable future.
Deep Blue is also an historiographic event.
Deep Blue is an historic event, then succeeding generations will more than likely revisit it. Each new generation of historians always returns to notable events seeking new insights, new meanings, and fresh interpretations. Deep Blue is a significant moment in time that encapsulates a much larger historical reality, the implications of which historians may well wrestle with again and again.
For historians of computing, Deep Blue's defeat of Kasparov-arguably the greatest chess player ever-has the potential to be like Gettysburg or the storming of the Bastille. Deep BlueĪccording to many observers, the chess match between Garry Kasparov and the IBM computer Deep Blue in May 1997 was an "historic event." If true, then this match would seem to be the sort of event that would be of special concern to historians interested in the marriage of computers and history.
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