Automating mathematics?
In 1997, an IBM computer named Deep Blue beat Gary Kasparov, the reigning chess champion. Kepler and Sphere packings The year after Deep Blue's victory saw a celebrated computer-assisted proof in mathematics — Thomas Hales's proof of the Kepler conjecture. Further, in some computer proof systems, proofs can be written in a language resembling ordinary human proofs. Searching the literature can be facilitated by either writing more computer-verifiable proofs, or by a Watson-like computer actually managing to understand human proofs — indeed the first commercial application of Watson is understanding the medical literature to help doctors make diagnoses. Probably the most practical reason is the same that led to building Deep Blue or Watson — a system capable of winning mind games is also capable of solving real life problems.
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