Artificial Intelligence vs Natural Stupidity

I read to completely unrelated things today.

Several months ago I posted here about a new gadget that I got, the 20Q handheld device. It was a "game" that could guess what you were thinking about in about 20 questions. The online version was very impressive. It used a very complex system hooked up to a massive database to be able to guess what you were thinking.

Here's the link to the online 20Q game.

Apparently it's an experiment in Artificial Intelligence. According to the creators, the game "learns" as more and more people give it input. Scary, fun but scary. I wonder how long before it becomes self aware and decides that it doesn't need us puny humans any longer? :)

A fun, cool, geeky version of the game is here. You'll especially enjoy this version if you are a Star Wars geek like me. Turn up your speakers!

Okay, so much for the Intelligence, now for the Stupidity.

Have you been to the Darwin Awards website? The site is full of stories of people who have killed themselves and thus removed their DNA from the gene pool. The thought is by removing genes for stupidity from the human gene pool, the human race will evolve ... into less stupid humans ... over time ...

Here's another story that tells me it's going to take a long time ...