Ken Jennings, left, and Brad Rutter pose after the Feb....

Ken Jennings, left, and Brad Rutter pose after the Feb. 16 "Jeopardy!," when Watson, the IBM-created megabrain, beat the veteran champs with a total of $77,147. Credit: AP

The answer is, "It's the only species that could create a computer as staggeringly superb as Watson."

The "Jeopardy!'' question? "What is mankind?"

The IBM machine's performance, trouncing the two greatest "Jeopardy!" champions during a three-day showdown broadcast this week, is an accomplishment humans can take pride in. And it shouldn't come as a surprise.

If you've tapped Google to find out what the traditional present for ninth wedding anniversaries is (pottery) or Kevin Bacon's first movie (he was Chip Diller in "Animal House"), you understand humans are not nearly as good as computers at storing and retrieving data.

We invented books to deal with these shortcomings, to expand available knowledge beyond what was in our heads. We don't feel a set of encyclopedias is smarter than us, though it carries more facts. Watson is the same.

We design vehicles faster and stronger than us and machines to manufacture products more quickly and efficiently than we can by hand. Now we've created a computer to dig up facts better than we can, and even navigate humor and nuance.

We built and control Watson, but Watson cannot build and control us. It's creating that makes humans special, not our ability to remember who sang "Teen Angel."

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