Rybka Banned and Disqualified

[Petek]

Chessvibes.com reports that the chess-playing program Rybka has been stripped of its world championship titles and its programmer has been banned for life from future competitions. Rybka is a commercially available program that has topped the computer ratings for several years (until recently). The programer is accused of plagiarizing the work of other programs.

 

[Yeekim]

Most obvious question: if it was merely plagiarizing others, how come it became the sole winner so many times?

 

[civ_king]

Most obvious question: if it was merely plagiarizing others, how come it became the sole winner so many times?

Because he made it better

 

[Abaddon]

So what if he plagiarized.. he still made it better.

 

[The_Quasar]

If you win too often, other folk don't like it and become jealous, then they seek to stop you in any way possible... no different than teaming up on a runaway civ...

 

[Blue Emu]

If you win too often, other folk don't like it and become jealous, then they seek to stop you in any way possible... no different than teaming up on a runaway civ...

I think the point is that, in order to play in this championship, the program must either be all-original work or must have clearly attributed any borrowed work. Rybka doesn't meet those qualifications, therefore it cannot hold the title.

It's like claiming a win in the Marathon race, when you took a train for part of the course. Naturally, you get disqualified.

 

[thadian]

its more like you wore shoes you didn't make yourself or didn't have a proper brand name on your shirt, or an improper logo.

Of course plagiarism is a very bad thing to do, but it is pathological and subjective - if i steal your essay and put my name on it, im a piece of crap.

then again, if i copy-paste certain codes from a program - how is it plagiarism? Sometimes, in computer codes there is one perfect way to compute something and a thousand bad ways. does this mean if i invent the perfect way and refuse to share, that you should be consigned to a flawed mechanism just because of me? The same could be said in medicine, don't believe me?

If i invent a cold medicine that actually works, or a flu medicine that works - you can't copy my recipe. so what if i invent it, patent it etc, and just refuse to release it? What if i made the cure for AIDS - made 5 copies that would self destruct under any investigation attempt - can i sell those 5 copies for 1,000,000,000 dollars a piece? What if you learn my recipie, are you REALLY a criminal for providing medicine to the world rather than permitting my right-wing capitalist greed? You sassy liberal 99 percenter...

When it comes to things like medicine, computing, electrical works or anything related - there ARE AREAS where plagiarism protects those who shouldnt be protected and denies rationalism to society by prohibition based on intellectual ownership. That said, i hope plagiarism is reviewed and looser rules applied for circumstances that merit it.

 

[Blue Emu]

I think you're stretching a comparison way beyond rational bounds. Keeping an AIDS vaccine secret means condemning many thousands of sufferers to death. No-one is going to die because I won't share my chess algorythm.

In this Rybka case, you aren't even comparing apples and oranges... you're comparing apples to a song about oranges.