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Joe
Hoane
Exceprts from University
of Illinois Alumni Newsletter, Spring 1996
For complete article click
here
Deep Blue
(with a touch of orange!)
A. Joseph Hoane, Jr., is one of the five members of IBM's Deep
Blue team, the group that recently challenged world chess champion
Garry Kasparov in a match that caught the entire world's attention.
Seen by many as a modern dramatization of machine versus man,
IBM has responded by saying, "This match is not about competition
between people and machines. It is a demonstration of what makes
us human beings so different from computers."
The Deep Blue team.
. . worked for five years on the technology that was used to
arm Deep Blue in its match against Kasparov at the ACM Chess
Challenge, held in Philadelphia from February 10-17, 1996. Kasparov
won the match with 3 wins, 2 draws, and 1 loss, but Deep Blue
won the day when it beat Kasparov in Game 1. The machine also
proved to be a formidable foe throughout.
Joe Hoane, a native of Normal, Illinois, described his undergraduate
experience at Illinois as "conventional." After graduation
in 1984, he went to work for IBM in East Fishkill, New York,
in the design automation area. He also completed an MS in computer
science from Columbia University in 1994.
When asked about the atmosphere in the Deep Blue control room
during the match, Hoane said that it wasn't all that tense. "The
intensity was all before. All the work was done by the time the
tournament started." Hoane was extremely impressed with
Kasparov. "Machines are just tools, with strengths and weaknesses"
Hoane said. "Kasparov's human strength was his adaptability,
being able to figure out the machine's strengths and weaknesses.
The competition is really between tool making and performing."
Were there any surprises?
"Not really, except for all the attention." Indeed,
the Blue Team members became celebrities. Hoane pointed out that
chess is well-loved in Europe but hasn't received similar attention
in the U.S. until now.
At least for another year, Hoane plans to stay with the Deep
Blue team. Though he would like to have gone to the beach after
the tournament, he returned to his home in New York to relax
with his wife and 18-month old son.
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