Kasparov and Deep Junior are both 1-1-3 now after playing to a draw today. The last game in their match will be played Friday. In the point system being used (1 point for a win, 1/2 point for a tie), both players have exactly 2.5 points. IMO, the best that Kasparov can hope for now is a tie since this was his last game as white. If you are not familiar with Chess, white goes first and has a slight advantage. At this level of skill, a slight advantage is important.

Moore's Law states that processing power doubles every eighteen months. So in just over nine years, new PCs will have as much processing power as Deep Blue did. And even if the current state-of-the-art software running in Deep Junior does not improve, this means that a typical PC should be able to beat any human Grand Master at Chess with ease, let alone have problems beating normal mortals. And the software will improve - I have been following the matches and I believe the software has improved with each game. It will be interesting to see what we as a society elect to do with the possibilities inherent in inexpensive tools that can surpass human abilities in certain endeavors. Will it free us to be more creative? Or will we become a world of couch potatoes with a rich subclass of computer repairmen?