When Gerry Tesauro developed the first self-educating backgammon bot, the techie TD-Gammon, a sacred dominion between mankind and the machine was flipped forever upon its Janus heads. Everyone involved in the story resists change in some way or another, including the change just to submit or to die. But the Bot persists, aloof, as a…
random thoughts at night
Lady Luck has an interesting side hustle going. Not only does the playful Lady navigate the game against world class fakers at world class stakes, but little Miss Luck herself uses her rare foresight and ample wit to subtle advantage, thereby on average demanding only correct odds in every backgammon situation -- first Black rolls…
common occurrences
It is a common occurrence in the game, soon after you wade into the thickest jungle, that's when backgammon begins to beguile. Softly at first. Backgammon beguiles you in scrubby rugged terrain where fleet gazelles play at running games. Lady B smoothly beckons you into a majestic library, lets you wander off, poke about, until…
running games and human beings
Human beings are blessed with an ability to "make do". Scrimp and bargain. Do a slipshod job in one arena, and then crawl off to lay low in another arena. But some humans are scramblers, they wager on outcomes, they create possibilities out of transition. They are the players who make it their forte to…
the nature of the game (1)
But that is just the nature of this game. Black minds his own business with a quiet 52s opening. Black just wants to trade his anchor, buy a used car with not a lot miles or options on it. Win this game without a fuss. Suddenly she hits loose. Without warning, White hits the black…
so the theory is …
So the latest rumor says White sold her robotic soul to the dark prince in exchange for thirty pieces of silver, a white horse to get her out of town, and a mountain of backgammon smarts. White drove a hard bargain. Still, it's an open question whether an AI can even have a soul. Black,…
opinions (pips)
You don't need to count pips, except for very special occasions. A seasoned estimate in dice rolls is more than adequate. Pip counts typically throw the mind into a pool of bad karma. Of note, nobody can do it. Don't believe what you are told. Nobody can. Beyond that, nobody should do it. Counting pips…
the baron talks backgammon 