What became of Deep Blue, the computer that defeated the human being?

After his victory against Kasparov just 23 years ago, he was the target of suspicion and ended up divided into two museums

The Apple I that in 1975 designed Steve Wozniak and sold Steve Jobs; a floppy disk; the Cray-2 supercomputer, which between 1985 and 1990 was the fastest on the planet; the video game 'Complete Waste of Time' of the Monty Python and, in the background, part of the history of chess. In a warehouse at the National Museum of American History managed by the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, half of the computer that defeated the human being accumulates dust while celebrating anniversaries of his deed. This Monday was 24 years old. And nobody cared.

One of the two Deep Blue towers that IBM manufactured in 1996 is out of print after being part of the “Information Age: People, Information and Technology” collection for years, since its retirement in 2002. The other can still be visited at the Mountain View Museum of Computer History in California, but the place isn't exactly a top tourist attraction. Although the Logitech mouse used to operate it – an ordinary mouse – was even exhibited separately at the Smithsonian, the most famous computer of the 90s is already just a thing while chess still lives in the paradigm it created.

Deep Blue's story after his win against Garry Kasparov in his second duel, in the spring of 1997, it is not exactly a romantic story. The legendary player denounced that the computer had not been autonomous during the games, that he had been too intelligent and creative, that he had received the help of other players, and requested the records of the same. IBM refused – it would later publish them for its part – and thus began a path to denial that would prevent further travel of the machine.

He could not face Kasparov again, nor could he measure himself against other players to confirm his level. While IBM shares increased by 20% – as explained in the documentary 'Kasparov vs. The Machine'-, Deep Blue was dismantled and archived until in 2002 it ended up divided into the two museums. In 1998 IBM announced that Deep Blue would help the United States government control its nuclear arsenal, but it was never heard from again.

Years later, one of the architects of Deep Blue, Feng-hsiung HsuHe revealed in his book 'Behind Deep Blue' that he had permission from IBM to develop a new version of the computer, but by then Kasparov was already about to retire, disinterested in the possible adventure, and the project was filed in a drawer. Like Deep Blue himself.