mechanical turk

[Papewaio]

Humans: one; Machines: nil.

No I think the machines win when we get left with jobs such as these:

Micro-payments, typically one or a couple of US cents, for micro-tasks - every time you for example answer the question "Is there a pizza parlour in this photograph?", which would be a horribly difficult one for a computer, but a laughably simple one for a human, you make a bit of money

I think the computers have a better union.

[Reverend Joe]

Down with the machines! Follow the Butlerian Jihad!

[Blodrast]

LeftEyeNine, Papewaio's excerpt gives you the perfect idea about this: humans get a few cents for performing really simple tasks (or some more advanced ones), which would be difficult and error-prone for a computer. Pape's example is to recognize if there is a pizzeria in some photo.
You can always google it up or follow the links if you are interested in more details, but that basically sums it up pretty good.

[LeftEyeNine]

Mechanical Turk.. People in where computers are out.. I'd like to know how the inventor of the idea came up with that name..

[Papewaio]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mechanical_Turk

It was a device that appeared to be a mechanical man (stylised as a turk) that could play chess... it was in fact a human doing the job of a machine.

Sums up this issue quite nicely... something that a machine cannot do is in fact done by a human.

[zukenft]

will it be efficient cost- or time-wise? As I understand it, if the computer program can't come up with an answer, it will post the question online, wait for somebody to come up with an answer, then return them to the requester...