We often talk about how to get more people interested in go, and suddenly a publicity bonanza has fallen into our laps. AlphaGo's success has moved Go from *blank stare* to "Isn't that the game where computers have just become competitive?" It seems that this might be the best opportunity since Hikaru no Go to promote go. Are we going to take advantage of it?

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Patience, grasshopper.

Almost every post about it I've seen and every conversation I've heard has been about "oh, cool, look at what computers can beat humans at now, Skynet is coming" not "oh, that game looks interesting can someone teach me how to play." Less flippantly, I think Deep Blue vs Kasparov did a lot more to increase interest in chess computing and bring people into IT than it did to bring people into chess, I could be wrong about that though.

Oh I don't know. I've had a few people say, 'Oh that's that game you play, do you fancy teaching me/playing with me some time?'.

It's also nice to be in a pub and it come on the TV and people start chatting about it. I use it as an opportunity to jump in and answer questions/encourage.

Now is probably a good time to do a 'Learn Go day' at work etc. Strike whilst the iron's hot and all that?

Yeah, what I mean is that I think it'll attract some people but I don't think it'll cause a big boom in interest. If some really popular film came out with a go being played at the heart of it I'd expect more interest, if that makes sense.

Thanks for asking the same question I was thinking of asking.

It's interesting to hear people's stories about how they got interested in go. Certainly, I think the event will raise awareness of the game, but I guess it depends on the coverage. Nevertheless, I was surprised when I met people who said that they heard about go from the movie "Pi." That's a pretty niche movie to begin with and go is featured very, very briefly in it. Even with "A Beautiful Mind" it's only incidental. But even that was enough to get some people going, if they were already predisposed. Some had read the excellent book "Master of Go" by Kawabata, which of course goes into the culture and the game quite deeply.

For some, it's of course friends, family members, co-workers that get them interested.

All of these things have had a net positive effect on the popularity of go. With AlphaGo and---perhaps more importantly, what comes after it---there is also the possibility of losing players who fear that either some of the mystique of go is gone or that the culture will change for the worse, as some argue happened with chess.

Frankly, my guess is that more people will become interested in machine learning than in go. Or maybe not. Maybe it's just go players and neural network researchers, having toiled for years in obscurity, finally are perceived as having done something cool for 15 minutes and then everyone will move on to the latest fad diet or celebrity gossip.

I'm waiting a U.S. Presidential candidate to mention AlphaGo, BTW. I'm not holding my breath on that, though.

Maybe the best way to bring popularity to Go is to emphasize the mental health benefits, like how Sudoku and Lumosity became popular. It is also what convinces parents in Korea to bring their children to Go academies, because they do believe it helps sharpen your brain. Now personally I don't really think there is much if any science behind that, but it is certainly a way to "sell" the game.

To a certain degree, I think we (go community in general) try to take advantage of it. It has gained a fair amount of publicity. We should all jump on the publicity train, I think, especially now that the time is ripe. Any publicity is good publicity.
In general, I try to pass on my enthusiasm for the game to others. I misuse the AlphaGo news a lot.
We will have to see if this either broadens the go playing base; and/or raises the level of the game.

If it is about 'selling' the game: a have a digital copy of a report by Paul Smith for Britgo. Old, but still applicable, I think. He identifies several selling points.
One of them is this:
"
Baduk promotional material should stress the elegance, beauty (i.e. visual attractiveness), creativity and depth of Baduk and the simplicity of the rules rather than the difficult and challenging nature of the game.
They should emphasise that by using small boards and handicaps Baduk can be a fast-paced and fun game which families or clubs can enjoy, as everyone can play on equal terms.
"

Interesting points: I use to rely on the basic and very simple rules opposed to the extreme complexity of the game.
Can you share the full document? [PM is a good option]

Galation

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When you play Weiqi you are joining millions of people across four thousand years of time.
Jonathan Hop - So You Want to Play Go?

See your inbox.

If just one tenth of one percent of the westerners who hear about go because of AlphaGo started actively playing, our clubs might be overwhelmed by the growth. There are certain advantages to having a fringe interest and starting with a small base.

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- Brady
Want to see videos of low-dan mistakes and what to learn from them? Brady's Blunders

Is this really getting that much interest and publicity? I don't have a TV or subscribe to a newspaper so I get all my news online. I have not seen a single reference to it outside of the go community.

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Still officially AGA 5d but I play so irregularly these days that I am probably only 3d or 4d over the board (but hopefully still 5d in terms of knowledge, theory and the ability to contribute).

Like this?

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMBvlsqMsd4[/youtube]

I think most of the major newspapers have mentioned it. Here is the Guardian from today. Many of my friends have contacted me about it, so they read about it or heard about it somewhere.

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- Brady
Want to see videos of low-dan mistakes and what to learn from them? Brady's Blunders

I think it is, at least people within IT industry seem to be noticing it.

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It appears the BBC interviewed Lee Sedol as well http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-35746909

I kinda doubt it. DeepBlue was a big deal because Chess was already known as the 'ultimate mind game' to the public. I don't think a western layman would care that much about computers beating humans in an obscure game - something they've been hearing for quite some time already.

I do think these "Skynet" comments are an expression of certain concerns rather than being simple jokes though. If A.I. improves at this rate it can provide a real threat to many people, not in the way of "Robot Apocalypse" but of losing their jobs. Especially for professionals, who put in many years of hard work to get into their highbrow offices, the thought of losing their career to a tin can and getting reduced to a low-skilled nobody can be dreadful (on a related note I wonder what's going on in many pro's minds after seeng AlphaGo now). A.I. can create a new utopia for mankind, but the road to that utopia will not be smooth.

NB to make youtube tags here you just need the video id (cMBvlsqMsd4) between the tags like so

It's funny. That's where I first heard of Go too. I guess if you're a bit of a geek with an interest in maths then at some point you're going to come across this film and be compelled to watch it. I certainly was. I saw it on VHS cassette in the late 90s when it was released on that format. I was bemused by the game they were playing and so found out what it was called. I put it on a list of things to learn at some point. Then many years later in 2007 there was a local Go event and I attended with some friends to fullfill this goal. I think they were all scared off after this experience but I was just drawn in more. So I bought a board. No one really wanted to play it and getting started when you have no one to play that knows the rules makes for a tough time to bootstrap the process. At a loose end I tried playing a computer opponent (GNU Go) but that just gave me more questions than answers. I finally found someone that knew how to play in July 2014 and have been hooked ever since.

There are a lot of IT types that are interested in AI and neural nets and algorithms. These types are also interested in playing board games (and drinking real ale!). So it may well be a winning combination to draw in people that have had it on their list to learn for sometime but have never got round to it.

I can't wait till tomorrow!

I was not impress with the fact that they used a cheap set in which the stones don't fit and they did not even know how to place a stone. If they cannot even get that right how much can you trust their reporting.

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Still officially AGA 5d but I play so irregularly these days that I am probably only 3d or 4d over the board (but hopefully still 5d in terms of knowledge, theory and the ability to contribute).