I wonder when Watson gets the textual clue: the instant the clue appears on screen? The moment Alex finishes reading it? A midpoint? Is it trickled word-by-word at about Alex's speaking or average human sight-reading rates?
If Watson has confidence at the moment ringing-in is allowed, it seems it will always win. So how much time it has to achieve that confidence, as a function of how the text is fed, may be more important than buzzer mechanics.
Based on the same general idea of a common starting point that motivates waiting until after the entire question has been read before allowing any ringing in, I could see there being a tiny 'common period' where all buzzes are considered as coming in simultaneously, with the person chosen to answer then being chosen in round-robin fashion (or for maximal drama, favoring whoever is behind). After the tiny common period, it would be strictly based on first-to-buzz.
It would take away a twitch-timing factor that has been important for human champions, too, but offer more fairness with regard to computers and even people with slight ticks or timing problems.
The clue is given to Watson electronically the moment the clue appears on the screen.
While watching, I was actually hoping for really short questions which would cut down on Watson's time to process and possibly put Watson on more even footing with Jennings and Rutter.
If Watson has confidence at the moment ringing-in is allowed, it seems it will always win. So how much time it has to achieve that confidence, as a function of how the text is fed, may be more important than buzzer mechanics.
Based on the same general idea of a common starting point that motivates waiting until after the entire question has been read before allowing any ringing in, I could see there being a tiny 'common period' where all buzzes are considered as coming in simultaneously, with the person chosen to answer then being chosen in round-robin fashion (or for maximal drama, favoring whoever is behind). After the tiny common period, it would be strictly based on first-to-buzz.
It would take away a twitch-timing factor that has been important for human champions, too, but offer more fairness with regard to computers and even people with slight ticks or timing problems.