Collective consciousness.

A magnificent concept, the idea of many units operating as one single entity. It would make such things as databases and computing much simpler, by splitting the load amongst the individual members of a collective consciousness.

Well, I might eventually make a post on this concept. But the main point of this particular rambling is to bring you akinator. A fantastic example of a collective consciousness.

It guesses any character you have in mind, given that you answer its questions truthfully. He'll guess within 20 questions any character, and if he's wrong, should you deign to give him chances, akinator will guess again within 30, then 40 questions. It's essentially a huge database of characters, questions and character traits, much like the old punchcard system for computers. A punchcard computer for akinator would probably be recognisable only as a sea of paper, given its sheer volume.

One thing in mind: it's frightfully accurate at guessing within 30 questions. 20 if the character is distinctive enough. If it can't get it within 30, it'll probably fail at 40, but its final trick is to pull a HUGE list of characters after getting it wrong the last time. Akinator is sneaky. Yet, even with its apparent psychic powers, it is amazingly fallible.

For the record, it guessed some (not so) obscure characters I pulled: Bazett Fraga McRemitz, Samurai Jack, Aku and Emiya Kiritsugu. For popular people and searches like Obama, Luffy, Kim Jong-Il and Nanoha, it'll usually get it within 20 questions, so forget beating akinator with those.

It does have its weaknesses. It took the whole 40 questions to guess Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew. (WUT) V from V for Vendetta was initially thought to be Anonymous (HERESY) and even Archer from Fate/stay night was completely unguessable for it (WUT WUT WUT). In fact:
- Caster, Archer, Rider from F/sn it failed, yet it got Lancer, Hasan and Assassin also from F/sn.
- Ilya, Irisviel, Kotomine and Kiritsugu from Fate/Zero it got, but failed hard at Rider, Caster and Lancer from the same.
- Pulling out all the stops, I went for Miyu Edelfelt from Fate/kaleid liner (bloody obscure, and she only appears in that one series and its sequel.) As expected, akinator failed.
- Damn, turns out I'm a Fate (Nasuverse) fan. Damn.

The collective consciousness seems to like anime, though. Akinator got the characters Shana (Shakugan no Shana), Hayate, Hinagiku (Hayate no Gotoku!), Sanji, Luffy (One Piece!), and about half of the F/sn cast (aside from those mentioned, it took 2 guesses to get Kuzuki Souichirou). Admittedly I'm quite lousy when it comes to characters, but I'm sure someone else would be able to really put akinator through its paces.

Good luck stumping it!