[3] What IBM Watson can do...

Can we train computers to reason like doctors?

In time, will Watson be able to decide how it adapts and what it learns?

[2] "I know Kung Fu." "Show me."

Martial arts knowledge and skills are downloaded directly into Neo's brain.

So perhaps IBM Watson is Neo made science fact.

[1] So is IBM Watson like Neo from "The Matrix"?

We are on the cusp of a new computing era, where the massive volumes of data we are gathering can finally be used to improve care. It will impact the way we communicate with our physicians, the way our physicians make well-informed decisions, and the way we take care of ourselves to stay healthy. 

In this video, Dr. Aya Soffer explains how IBM researchers are teaching computers to serve as cognitive assistants.

The fall, and rise, and fall again of a homeless man

10 viral sensations on life after internet fame

"Well, when I walked in that door and all these microphones and cameras were thrust into my face, and just couldn’t believe it."

~Ted Williams:

I only thought I was getting a job at the local radio station. I knew nothing about viral internet sensations or anything, so when I went down the following day, I saw all types of satellite trucks, news cameras, it was just phenomenal. But I didn’t think any of that was pertaining to me, because when you see CNN, ABC, NBC, all these trucks, you know something’s big. Well, when I walked in that door and all these microphones and cameras were thrust into my face, and just couldn’t believe it. I was an emotional wreck. “Uh, hi, would you like to come on the Today show?” “Hi, this is ABC.” Everybody was fighting for exclusives. It was ridiculous. I mean, who wouldn’t enjoy all this quick adulation? But it became invasive. I was like, “Oh, God, you gotta know my mother? My children? My girlfriend?” We sold my story to NBC for an exclusive, but I’d given out my mother’s address, and CBS This Morning went and found her. Took her away and sequestered her in a hotel in Manhattan so they could have the 17-year reunion of me and my mom. They finally called and said, “Ted, we’re going to take you to see your mother,” and that excited me, but I had no idea there were going to be 35 cameras there. 

My platform is simple. First, I want to change the way the power structure deals with homeless military veterans. After all of their years of service, and them protecting the freedoms of Americans, they come back only to become discouraged and disenchanted. They can’t find housing, they can’t find nothing. Secondly, homeless Americans, period—I want to eradicate that. We have more space dedicated to golf courses than we have land appropriated to build housing for homeless Americans. I think we need to shut down some of those country clubs and use that land for helping the homeless. Then I want to definitely challenge states’ handling of Fair Housing laws. And I’m tired of them outsourcing our jobs. We’ve got sweatshops in Thailand, China—you name it, you’ve got little kids manufacturing name-brand things there. Nike! I’m not bashing Nike, don’t get me wrong, but bring those jobs back to America.

A hilarious hip dance medley, then it's Viral City

10 viral sensations on life after internet fame

A hilarious, hip dance medley that, at one point, was the most viewed video on YouTube.

Judson Laipply:

I’m one of the few where my video directly affected my current career. A lot of other people who go viral have to switch careers, or they never really get to maximize such an event. For me, I was doing something already — working this inspirational-comedian idea, and doing the dance — and then that was like a 20-year boost of marketing and exposure. I was lucky because what I got famous for was something I was already becoming good at. 

The most watched video back then was the like Smosh Pokemon Theme Song, and the average age of a YouTuber was about 12 years old. So my video was kind of one of the first that people could related to past the age of 20. And because my video was right when YouTube was becoming popular, a lot of news stations would use it to show what’s on there. 

I did a second video, but we don’t talk about that one. I did it right during the big legal turmoil over song rights, when Viacom was suing YouTube, and Sony was suing YouTube. I’d gotten the streaming rights, but it was only for a few songs. In those early days, it was the Wild, Wild West. YouTube didn’t know what to do. Now they have the technology to recognize songs in the videos, and YouTube just distributes the money accordingly. But back then I didn’t want the owner of the rights — and there are 30 songs in that video — to say, “We need you to take that down.” So we had to put it on a different channel. Now that all that’s resolved, the third won’t have those problems. 

When my video took off, I got a call from them where it’s like “Hello?” “Hi, please hold for Jeff Zucker, the president of NBC.” I’m like still going, “Huh, what?” when he comes on the line and says, “We’re having this meeting in a couple weeks and I was wondering if you’d be able to come talk to us about internet stuff.” And it was so interesting being in the room — we were listening to the lawyers and their mind-set of “We need to take every person’s content down.” They were suggesting spending millions of dollars on telling people to. And Jeff said, “No, we need to let people just have it. Stop trying to put a finger in the hole when the dam has a thousand others.” 

I think the biggest — I don’t really want to say problem, but … [is that] I’ll be turning 40 in March. At most I have maybe just 10 more years of being able to physically do the dance. It’s a taxing thing. The running joke is that I say it’s eventually going to go from being funny to being sad. But I don’t regret anything, not in the slightest. If I could go back and redo anything, it would be that I’d have had a bunch of different merchandise and products to sell. Or maybe do a better job of getting viewers’ emails, so I could just send them a ton of stuff.

A fateful fumble, then a brutal venomous public

10 viral sensations on life after internet fame

A fateful fumble, and sadly this Miss Teen USA contestant found herself at the cross hairs of a brutal, venomous public.

Caite Upton:

I lost a lot of close friends over it — people I’d been friends with since I was 10, people I grew up playing soccer with. One group of girls took me to this party at the University of South Carolina, and I walk in, and the entire USC baseball team surrounded me and bashed me with the harshest, meanest comments I had ever heard. And somebody once put a letter in my parents’ mailbox about how my body was going to be eaten alive by ants and burned in a freak fire. And then it said, in all caps, GO DIE CAITE UPTON, GO DIE FOR YOUR STUPIDITY. That’s the kind of stuff people would say to me for two years. 

I definitely went through a period where I was very, very depressed. But I never let anybody see that stuff, except for people I could trust. I had some very dark moments where I thought about committing suicide. The fact that I have such an amazing family and friends, it really, really helped. [Begins to tear up] Sorry, it’s just really emotional. This is the first time I’ve actually been able to talk about it. It was awful, and it was every single day for a good two years. I’ve only spoken to my fiancé about how I felt in those moments truthfully, and my best friend. And, recently, my mom. But, like, my dad doesn’t even know yet. 

The past few years, going brunette, I have not had any recognition for the Miss Teen USA Pageant at all. But I also get recognized for having a similar name to Kate Upton. So I’ll go into my auditions and be like, “Yes, yes, I know — I’m the other one.”