elmuchoprez

Can you walk us through the logic Watson would go through to answer a question such as, "The antagonist of Stevenson's Treasure Island." (Who is Long John Silver?)

Is the text of Treasure Island available to Watson? And if so, would it be able to interpret it in a manner that Watson can determine who is the antagonist? Antagonist/protagonist is one of those concepts that is abundantly clear to humans, but I don't quite know how you would define a rule set for a machine to determine the difference.

Or, would Watson simply have access to... I don't know, literary criticisms on Treasure Island, in which Long John Silver may be referred to as the antagonist and therefore that's how Watson figures it out?

Reminds me of a quote I've heard attributed to far too many people to know who really said it: "To ask whether a machine can think is like asking whether a submarine can swim."

I had a brief email exchange with Kyle a few years ago when I was researching another project and I believe he told me this is who he used for PR: http://evanwhitepr.com/

I met you in person once years and years ago. While we were talking, I noticed a complete stranger wearing a shirt with your art on it, and I asked if you ever mentioned to people like that that you were the artist. It's entirely possible that I'm remembering this wrong, but in my head you said something like:

Besides seeming a little self-congratulatory, it's easy to let people down in those situations. They buy a shirt because they think it's funny or cool or whatever, then they meet the guy who came up with it and he's just a normal goofy guy. In a random two minute meeting on the street, I'm just as likely to come off as an accountant as I am a comedian. And nobody wants a shirt made by an accountant.

Feel free to correct me if that doesn't sound like something you would say, but regardless, it's a notion that has stuck with me: sometimes it's better to not let them see the man behind the curtain.

Anyways, I bring it up because in recent years you've become incredibly active on reddit. You don't just post your work; you follow up with the replies, comment on other people's work, talk about your methods, do AMAs, etc... at least online, you don't seem to shy away from letting people "behind the curtain" any more. Has your opinion on this changed? Do you find that the internet has provided a new avenue for letting people see the person behind your work? Was it a conscious decision or did it just happen?

Or am I just remembering everything about this wrong?

I imagine many aspiring writers and illustrators have reached out to you for career advice. Have you ever reviewed someone's work and told them they don't have the chops to cut it?