In the original form of Turing's imitation game, the goal wasn't to come up with clever answers or attitude towards "Prove you are human! Now!" - it was to secretly pass as human while being questioned by an unwitting examiner about some other area of human life, e.g. the experience of being a woman.
That was why TheGuessingGame (http://www.theguessinggame.net/) made the news recently (http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Simon's_Rock_College_tests_Alan_Turing_theories_with_'Imitation_Game'_experiment)
The confusion is caused by the Loebner Prize (http://www.loebner.net/Prizef/loebner-prize.html), which takes a more direct "prove it!" attitude. But I think the important thing to remember is what the Turing Test was supposed to measure - intelligence. Turing wasn't interested in whether a computer could convincingly blow you off - a tape recorder wired to a doorbell can convincingly blow you off. He was interested in whether a computer could simulate a short, free-ranging conversation in a way that created the impression of intelligence.
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Passing a different kind of scrutiny than "prove it"
Date: 2005-06-30 05:37 pm (UTC)That was why TheGuessingGame (http://www.theguessinggame.net/) made the news recently (http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Simon's_Rock_College_tests_Alan_Turing_theories_with_'Imitation_Game'_experiment)
The confusion is caused by the Loebner Prize (http://www.loebner.net/Prizef/loebner-prize.html), which takes a more direct "prove it!" attitude. But I think the important thing to remember is what the Turing Test was supposed to measure - intelligence. Turing wasn't interested in whether a computer could convincingly blow you off - a tape recorder wired to a doorbell can convincingly blow you off. He was interested in whether a computer could simulate a short, free-ranging conversation in a way that created the impression of intelligence.