The (Curious Case of the) Watson Intelligence
Do people change? Are computers the only things that can learn? These questions and more are explored in Madeleine George’s provocative new play, The (Curious Case of the) Watson Intelligence , being given a wonderful world premiere at Playwrights Horizons. George’s play takes place, simultaneously, at several different points in time—both fiction and non, mostly non—and throughout, there are three characters, Eliza (Amanda Quaid), Merrick (David Costabile) and Watson (John Ellison Conlee). We begin in 2011, just as the Watson Jeopardy series was wrapping up. (You’ll recall that IBM’s Watson supercomputer competed against Jeopardy ’s two winningest champions.) Eliza is interacting with her own Watson, and she is talking to it as if it were her boyfriend. Elsewhere in the 2011 storyline, we meet Merrick, a guy running for city auditor who enlists the help of a Geek Squad-like tech, (Josh) Watson, to investigate his ex-wife. (Josh) Watson ends up becoming romantically ...