Douglas Hofstadter in the Atlantic: The Shallowness of Google Translate (because computers don't really have any understanding)
Pontifications
QUOTE
When, one day, a translation engine crafts an artistic novel in verse in English, using precise rhyming iambic tetrameter rich in wit, pathos, and sonic verve, then I’ll know it’s time for me to tip my hat and bow out.
END QUOTE
- Amen! and that day doesn’t look like it will happen without a breakthrough. Neural networks and the other brute force techniques won’t get us there. Good enough for Go and Chess, not good enough for “C3P0-style” fluency and understanding.
- I think that breakthrough (quantum computers? ) will come in my lifetime but what do I know :-) ?