[11001001011010]

Indeed memory, the point where computers totally outsmart us all. That's why traditional school where you get to the next grade by showing off your memory is totally deprecated.

It might be me, but these kind of contests and our excitement about it only shows our stupidity even more. Our specialty is very fortunately not memory, it should never be. We are incredibly special creatures with much more interesting capabilities.

[nickelpro]

Machines can also throw javelins and shots farther than any human can ever hope to. Hydraulics can trivially lift more than any strong man. A large enough spring can outperform any long jumper. More directly relatable, chess engines have been outperforming the grand masters for a decade now.

That a machine can outperform a human doesn't make a human doing it unimpressive. The excitement and fun of the competition remains.

[tudorconstantin]

Nit-pick: it's already more than 2 decades since Kasparov lost to deep blue (1997). Time flies.

[wozniacki]

But games like Scrabble seem even more pointless than the Spelling bee which is in itself pointless ( making a competition out of memorizing or constructing from memory similar rooted words that one would barely use in any but the most scholarly of arcane academia or in the practice of law, is anything but useful or worthy of one's time ).

A more worthwhile competition would test the participants on their reasoning / logic and turn it into an engaging game. Even gamifying brevity of language is a worthwhile pursuit since so many of todays youth speak so poorly or struggle expressing their thoughts in a coherent and curt manner.

Scrabble and Spelling Bee encourage rote learning and little beyond that. A terrible waste of potential like OP alluded to. Memorizing and parroting, needless to say, is just not a very good use of the human intellect. Its really bad form and speak to the vanity and vainness of the organizers and contestants to have these silly competitions in this day and age.

[DFHippie]

I've always been embarrassed that spelling bees are a thing in English. It's interesting that you can see the etymology of a word in its spelling, but horrific spelling sure is a barrier to literacy. How do you pronounce "lough"? How about "rough" or "dough"? And "plough"? Now try "hiccough".

I envy Finnish kids. They've already mastered the grammar and are well on their way with the vocabulary. Spelling is barely a speed bump. English speakers have national competitions to demonstrate that they've mastered spelling.