Move 37
During Game 2 of AlphaGo vs. Lee Sedol, the AI played a move (Strategy 37) that sent commentators into shock. It was a "slacker move," a "mistake." In reality, it was a move that no human would play because it prioritized long-term influence over short-term gain in a way human intuition could not calculate. It forced humanity to rewrite the textbooks on Go.
Learning from the Alien
The true value of Synthetic Strategy is not that it beats humans, but that humans can learn from it. Lee Sedol's "Move 78" (the "God Move") in Game 4 was only possible because his mind had been stretched by the alien logic of his opponent. He had to think like the machine to defeat it.
Field Notes & Ephemera
Field Note: We built the machine to play our game. We ended up playing its game. And the game is better for it.