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XiXiDu comments on Rationality Lessons in the Game of Go - Less Wrong
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Awesome, I've voted it up simply for bringing this subject to LW. I've always wanted to learn about Go. I've already got a book, but what I'm missing is someone/thing I can play with. I know computers are no good at Go yet, but I wonder if there are programs for beginners to play against before bothering humans with their lack of sophistication? I'll have to check out the link provided in the OP. Thank you.
One aspect of go which is present on LW but not true about rationality in general (and so not part of the article) is a culture of welcoming and mentoring. Good players are honored by teaching beginners, and the handicap system facilitates interesting teaching games. You should not worry about bothering (go playing) humans with any lack of sophistication. Not all players have this attitude, of course, but surprisingly many do. The place on the internet I've found best reflects this welcoming culture of go is the Kiseido Go Server.
Also, I should note that I've been advised by strong players on a few occasions not to play against computer opponents much, especially those set to easier difficulty levels, because it can build bad habits.
I agree. KGS is very friendly, and I certainly managed to make 15k before buying any books.
The computer is just for getting some very raw mechanics down. Do it a max of maybe 30 times and start playing humans! I'm about 2k now and I still suck at playing Igowin on 9x9.
Only because the game is so deep. Best programs are going to massacre you mercilessly.
Internet go is extremely popular, ranking systems to find players of comparable strength are pretty good (once you learn the basics at least), and it's really easy to find a match. Just go for it.
Did you try GNU Go? That should be hard enough for most beginners.
Side-note, Wikipedia has a nice article on computer-Go; it's gotten a lot better, but still... with all the discussions on AGI on LW, it's sobering to see how difficult even a constrained well-understood domain like Go can be dealt with using today's methods.
The problem with GNUgo is that it teaches a style that would not be effective in beating humans. Generally, you have to build up moderately difficult situations, where you have a deep sequence of forcing moves. These kind of deep but simple to prune trees are very easily read by humans, but GNUgo sucks at them, especially if they are on the interaction boundary of bigger fights.
Still it can be valuable learning tool, but one will learn a different skill set to playing with humans.
That's because, as Minsky said, no one has tried to make a general intelligence first, and then teach it Go.
Computer go uses more interesting methods than computer chess, but they're very obviously not generalizable to any AGI.
Maybe there should be a LessWrong email Go games? There are a fair number of people at SingInst who play Go.
That would probably be fun. Someone also advertised this new email-go server to me just recently.