Why doesn't anyone suspect that Sai could be a computer bot?


Hikaru makes Sai play Go over internet with the nickname "Sai". Sai is very
powerful, and defeats everybody, even Meijin.

I don't know how to play Go very well, but I perceive that a computer
algorithm that plays Go can be written easily. And I believe that there must
be a lot of Go bots all over the real world currently.

Why doesn't anybody consider the probability that Sai could be a computer bot?
I'm very surprised that it is not mentioned even once during the entire
series. Is there a reason for this?




Firstly, the manga was released in 1998 which was just about when the Internet
was exploding all across the world and the dot-com bubble taking shape.
Similarly, the off-the-shelf hardware available at the time was a shadow
(think 300 MHz Pentiums) of what is available now. Things were far different
back then than they are now.

Secondly, while it might be possible for computer algorithms that play Go to
be written reasonably easily, algorithms that seemingly play Go _well_ is
exponentially complex. If you consider [Deep
Blue](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_Blue_%28chess_computer%29), the chess
engine that beat Kasparov 2-1 (out of six games played) in 1997, it used racks
of cutting edge hardware calculating 200 _million_ positions a second, and
intricately tuned software specifically built for the purpose by IBM. It
didn't exactly overpower him. In terms of board size, possible moves and
combinations, Go is far more complex and demanding than chess and it would
have been extremely unlikely for any 1998 desktop software to be able to match
Go grandmasters of the time.

Lastly, incorporating cheating and other negative elements of real life was
unnecessary to the story and would have hamstrung one of the objectives of the
manga, that being the aim to popularise the game of Go.




Firstly, the manga was released in 1998 which was just about when the Internet
was exploding all across the world and the dot-com bubble taking shape.
Similarly, the off-the-shelf hardware available at the time was a shadow
(think 300 MHz Pentiums) of what is available now. Things were far different
back then than they are now.

Secondly, while it might be possible for computer algorithms that play Go to
be written reasonably easily, algorithms that seemingly play Go _well_ is
exponentially complex. If you consider [Deep
Blue](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_Blue_%28chess_computer%29), the chess
engine that beat Kasparov 2-1 (out of six games played) in 1997, it used racks
of cutting edge hardware calculating 200 _million_ positions a second, and
intricately tuned software specifically built for the purpose by IBM. It
didn't exactly overpower him. In terms of board size, possible moves and
combinations, Go is far more complex and demanding than chess and it would
have been extremely unlikely for any 1998 desktop software to be able to match
Go grandmasters of the time.

Lastly, incorporating cheating and other negative elements of real life was
unnecessary to the story and would have hamstrung one of the objectives of the
manga, that being the aim to popularise the game of Go.

