Crowd & Rivalry Aid UM Win

The Montana Grizzlies defeated Montana State University Bobcats in four sets in front of a packed gymnasium on Oct. 21. This marks 33 years of Cat/Griz volleyball.

Though this volleyball rival is not as big as the football tradition, dating back to 1893, the fans arrived in full-force to support the grizzlies. The original rivalry was between only the football teams, but it has become a large part of all sports now.

Staffers had to turn some people away. Tavia Kohles, a University of Montana student who attended the game, feels the crowd contributed to the win, “I have never seen the gym so packed before. And I have never heard it so loud."

A home crowd can be a big factor for teams, especially in such a highly anticipated match-up.

“We couldn’t do it without Griz Nation,” senior Kayla Reno tells GoGriz in a postgame interview. “I mean our stands were packed.”

Reno continues to lead with her exceptional play from the Sacramento State game Friday night where she had 17 kills at .486.

Cat/Griz hype can motivate players to play exceptionally well. Statistically Montana beat Montana State in every category. Especially impressive were the Grizzly’s blocking. With 16 on the night, Montana doubled the Cats only 8. Kelsey Schile, junior for the University of Montana, further proved this. 

Schile tied with Reno for top kills with 17 apiece, but added also 8 blocks for her team. She was previously averaging 2.2 kills per set throughout the 2013 season, but managed 4.5 against the Cats.

“I really like the way Kesley’s been playing,” Montana Coach Jerry Wagner said. “She’s been playing very well for a month now.”

This win boosted the Grizzlies to a 6-4 record in conference play. This match marks the halfway point through the season for Montana’s conference play. The win keeps them at fifth place in the Big Sky Conference, just high enough to qualify for tournament play if the season ended now. 

“We’re all super excited about it,” Schile told the Missoulian of the rivalry win. “We knew we just had to come out here, get ready and take care of business. Now I’m just waiting to celebrate this win.” 

Reactions of fans was what was to be expected, including a brief article written by the Montana State University on the university’s website. Disgruntled fans tweeted and posted angry statuses on Facebook.

Montana State’s key player, freshman Kennadie Clute, struggled with 14 kill errors accompanying her 18 kills. It was her first time playing in Montana’s biggest rival and nerves could have been a contributing factor to her performance.

The volleyball teams will meet again in Bozeman on Nov. 25 to complete the season before the Big Sky Tournament. The Grizzly team will have to overcome the Cat's crowd in order to defeat them and put them one up in overall Cat/Griz volleyball, with a current record split with 51 wins each. 

Deus Ex Machina: new technologies compete with man for prestigious jobs

IBM's Super Computer "Liebniz" in Germany

In 2011 IBM’s supercomputer Watson defeated world jeopardy champion Ken Jenning and made a big dent in the egos everywhere as man’s superior intelligence was now bested. IBM has recently redirected Watson’s abilities toward providing medical diagnoses, claiming it can make diagnoses far more accurately than any doctor while being more cost effective.

            The industrial revolution hit the working class hard, but now advanced computing technologies are competing for the most esteemed jobs held by humans. Computers like Watson, as well as quantum computers such as NASA’s D-Wave, which are still in their infancy will start to display the true extent of their abilities as quantum computing is starting to come to the for-front of contemporary science.

           IBM has already started showcased some of these abilities in Watson’s medical diagnostic abilities.

“It would take at least 160 hours of reading a week just to keep up with new medical knowledge as it's published, let alone consider its relevance or apply it practically. Watson's ability to absorb this information faster than any human should, in theory, fix a flaw in the current healthcare model. Wellpoint's Samuel Nessbaum has claimed that, in tests, Watson's successful diagnosis rate for lung cancer is 90 percent, compared to 50 percent for human doctors.”

An article by Wired magazine Reports

            In  1996 IBM’s supercomputer Deep Blue defeated Gary Kasparov the world chess champion resulting in a rage of denial on behalf of Kasparov, who claimed there was no way a machine could out reason a human being in a game involving such complex adaptive strategy.

           But it is still unclear the extent such machines will come to play in prestigious jobs, they may act as a supplemental devices that guide decision making processes by doctors, not replace them entirely.

Some argue that there is an intuitive element that goes into medical diagnosis process which a machine just couldn’t provide. Dr. Gurpreet Dhaliwal is considered one of the most best diagnosticians in the world today and his process seems to involve such reasoning processes that are uniquely human.

“An expert clinical diagnostician like Dr. Dhaliwal might make a decision without being able to explain exactly what is going on in the back of his mind, as his subconscious continuously sifts the wheat from the chaff.”

The New York Times reports

           These machines are also extremely expensive, making it unclear how far way such technologies are from becoming practical for commercial use. Google’s supercomputer ran a bill of $10 Million, the tech giant has utilized supercomputer to help explore blink-based app access for the upcoming product google glass. Quantum computers also require their processors to be super-chilled to sub-zero temperatures, which is extremely expensive. Google was stuck with the bill from running their supercomputer during the government shutdown even though no experiments could be conducted.

           Supercomputers have the potential to create new medicines by being able to analyze chemical compounds on a scale unknown to human chemists as well as making performing calculations beyond any mathematician. This leaves room for questions of weather these people in these industries should welcome these new technologies as friends, or be wary of them as competitors.