More on the topic of really smart computers
The title of this newscientist article caught my eye - “Evolutionary algorithms now surpass human designers.” It has a lot of examples of how EAs (evolutionary algorithms) have made things better and faster than any human:
Pierre Legrand and colleagues at the University of Bordeaux 2, France, developed an evolutionary system to configure the electrodes for cochlear implants. Up to 22 electrodes on the auditory nerve let cochlear implants restore lost hearing, but the voltages and timings of the signals applied to them are highly individual, requiring much adjustment for speech to be audible. Legrand’s team took just one-and-a-half days to configure an optimal pattern for one patient whose doctors had not succeeded in 10 years.
Obviously this is also being used to make money in the stock market. Here’s one example.
