10. Building a Data Classification System with Mahout

The real problem is not whether machines think but whether men do.

—B. F. Skinner

Computers essentially perform a fairly simple set of tasks over and over. Data goes in, algorithms are applied to that data, and results come out. In order to know what to do, computers have to be explicitly programmed by humans. Since the beginning of the digital computing age, scientists have pondered the possibility of computers reacting to changes in data without new programming, similar to how humans learn from changes in their environment. If a computer could modify its programming models as input changes, it could be used as a tool for helping us make decisions about the future. And as data sizes grow ...

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