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Algorithm Names Powell 'Ideal' Vice President Candidate

CWmike writes "Turns out the ideal vice presidential candidate for Sen. John McCain is the same person as the ideal vice presidential candidate for Sen. Barack Obama, according to a sophisticated online survey based on technology developed at MIT. Mr. Ideal? Colin Powell, a former U.S. Army general and former secretary of state. Affinnova's survey methods doesn't use the typical polling method of asking respondents to pick a name from a list. Instead, it gives respondents larger concepts, including photos, biographical information and possible first-term priorities. Affinnova calls this algorithm 'evolutionary optimization.' Steve Lamoureaux, the company's chief innovation officer, said of the VP finding: 'We never imagined that the same candidate would show up for both parties.'"

8 of 543 comments (clear)

  1. Algo source code by LotsOfPhil · · Score: 4, Funny
    It isn't that surprising of a result if you know Java.

    ...
    public static String pickIdealVP(Party party)
    {
    String s = "Colin Powell";
    return s;
    }
    ...

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  2. Re:Makes sense... by Kjella · · Score: 4, Funny

    How many voted for JFK?
    Or Elvis Aaron Presley?
    Or Santa Claus?
    Or Dart Vader?
    Or SpongeBob?

    The better question is, how many of those would do a better job...

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  3. Re:Meet the new boss... by pclminion · · Score: 4, Funny

    I think you're missing the point, which is that Powell in some sense falls into both parties and this is WHAT makes him (at least according to this) such a good candidate. I've done my own data mining studies on the US Senate, and the computer was able to easily divide the Senate into two camps. Uninterestingly, it placed almost all the Democrats into one camp, and all the Republicans into the other. So even a stupid computer can tell the difference.

    You're taking the one guy who bucks tradition and using it as an example for why the parties are indistinguishable. You have it completely backwards.

    (And by the way, the only Senator my data mining system got "wrong" was Hillary Clinton -- she ended up placed with the Republicans.)

  4. Al Gore Rhythm picks optimal vice president by Junior+J.+Junior+III · · Score: 4, Funny

    Divination through dancing retired politicians is no way to run a society!

    Watery tarts throwing swords is clearly a superior methodology.

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  5. Re:Who does age matter to? by brian1078 · · Score: 3, Funny

    There's a certain amount of unrest with people at the idea of the president becoming incapacitated.

    *cough*FDR*cough*four term President*cough*

    *cough*No TV*cough*or Internet*cough*

  6. Re:Who does age matter to? by FrameRotBlues · · Score: 3, Funny

    *cough*FDR*cough*four term President*cough*



    *cough*First Lady Eleanor ran things for years*cough*

    *cough*no TV*cough*

    *cough*people started electing on looks with Kennedy*cough*

    *cough*you have to be 18 to vote, but can still vote when you're senile at 96*cough*

  7. Re:Unlikely by lateralus_1024 · · Score: 5, Funny

    "...Usually a Pres. and Vice-Pres. are in the same general age range..."

    Not entirely true. Look at Bush/Cheney: Dick Cheney, a known Vampyre, is dated to be at least 450 years old, making him nearly 20 generations older than Bush.

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  8. Re:Who does age matter to? by Anonymous+Cowpat · · Score: 3, Funny

    How about when he died in office? Was he incapacitated then?

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    FGD 135