To refresh your memories, Deep Blue is a computer. A big computer. It’s fast too. It can consider 200 million moves a second, which is about the number of times Bill Clinton changes his mind on any given issue. Deep Blue will be playing Garry Kasparov, the undisputed chess grandmaster of the world and possibly the greatest chess player who has ever lived.

If you are like me, you really don’t care whether Kasparov proves human dominance or not. Some say a victory by Deep Blue would prove that computers will someday surpass humans. I say Deep Blue may win a chess game, but does it know how to drive? It weighs 1.4 tons, so I don’t see it outrunning me anytime soon. Those who argue for artificial intelligence neglect one critical aspect--computers aren’t intelligent. Deep Blue just crunches numbers; a lot of them at high speeds. It’s kind of like an entire building of accountants on speed. But it can’t THINK. Ask it to figure out a billon chess moves and it spits ‘em out. Ask it what flavor salad dressing it wants and it melts down.

I will probably follow the chess rematch. This should prove, once and for all, that I have nothing better to do. I will not be praying, however, for a victory of man over machine. Garry, even if he loses, will still have a million times more real-life intelligence than Deep Blue. Unlike human intelligence, computers can be shut down with the flip of a switch.