This particular clue appeared in a mock version of  [Jeopardy!} in December, held in Hawthorne, N.Y. at one of I.B.M.’s research labs. Two contestants — Dorothy Gilmartin, a health teacher with her hair tied back in a ponytail, and Alison Kolani, a copy editor — furrowed their brows in concentration. Who would be the first to answer?

Neither, as it turned out. Both were beaten to the buzzer by the third combatant: Watson, a supercomputer.

For the last three years, I.B.M. scientists have been developing what they expect will be the world’s most advanced “question answering” machine, able to understand a question posed in everyday human elocution — “natural language,” as computer scientists call it — and respond with a precise, factual answer. In other words, it must do more than what search engines like Google and Bing do, which is merely point to a document where you might find the answer.

– Clive Thompson, New York Times Magazine.

This article is far too long and fascinating to properly excerpt here, and I heartily recommend you check it out if you’ve got a half hour to kill.

The piece explains how “Watson,” I.B.M.’s supercomputer, determines the answers (well, the questions, but that’s semantics) to Jeopardy! clues. Plus it outlines the machine’s limitations and describes how it matches up with humans.

Because I’m a big fan of both Jeopardy! and information that forbodes a dystopian future, the story is important to me for obvious reasons. But on top of that, I happen to live in the tiny hamlet of Hawthorne, N.Y. where this is all going down. So I’m at ground zero for the inevitable robot uprising. That’s terrifying, but also kind of awesome.

Upon starting the article, I initially considered how perfectly it set up a Ken-Jennings-as-John-Henry scenario, wherein Jeopardy!’s folk hero hurriedly scribbles his correct Final Jeopardy! answer before collapsing at the podium, winning the match but losing his life in the process.

But it turns out the machine has pretty much no shot of beating Ken Jennings, which is even more awesome. A team of scientists can spend years working on a computer specifically designed to succeed at Jeopardy!, and it still can’t match the best human contestants. Also, Ken Jennings can walk and give lectures and, presumably, love. Suck it down, Watson.

Also, Ken Jennings probably wouldn’t do this:

In another game, Watson’s logic appeared to fall down some odd semantic rabbit hole, repeatedly giving the answer “Tommy Lee Jones” to several clues that had nothing to do with him.

Well that’s ominous. The machines have targeted you, Tommy Lee Jones.

To be fair, though, former roommate Ted points out, “that sounds like something I’d do when drunk and shouting Jeopardy! answers at the TV screen.” And he’s right. I’ve seen him while drunk and watching Jeopardy!, and that does sound like something he’d do. So maybe Watson was stewed.

In any case, the article suggests that Jennings himself will take on the computer in a forthcoming televised Jeopardy! exhibition. Smart money is on the humans. For this round, at least.