The Turing Test: The Elusive Standard of Artificial Intelligence (Studies in Cognitive Systems) [Paperback]

James H. Moor (Editor)

Book Description

Series: Studies in Cognitive Systems | Publication Date: December 31, 1989

This book gives the most comprehensive, in depth and contemporary assessment of this classic topic in artificial intelligence. It is the first to elaborate in such detail the numerous conflicting points of view on many aspects of this multifaceted, controversial subject. It offers new insights into Turing's own interpretation and is essential reading for research on the Turing test and for teaching undergraduate and graduate students in philosophy, computer science, and cognitive science.

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"The origin of Moora (TM)s The Turing Test is a conference a ] at Dartmouth College. a ] This collection has considerable depth and range. It includes insightful papers on current debates by several of the foremost Turing scholars. The volume addresses the history, interpretation, criticism, and defense of the test, and alternative standards of intelligence in AI. It is genuinely interdisciplinary a ] . The discussions are accessible to students and much of the material is fascinating. Moora (TM)s skilful editorship has produced a splendidly informative work." (Diane Proudfoot, Philosophical Psychology, Vol. 19 (2), April, 2006) --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Springer; 1 edition (December 31, 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1402012055
• ISBN-13: 978-1402012051
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,859,766 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Can machines mimic human intelligence?, December 10, 2004

By 

Jill Malter ([e-mail]) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Turing Test: The Elusive Standard of Artificial Intelligence (Studies in Cognitive Systems) (Paperback)

Can a computer program running on a computer demonstrate aspects of human intelligence? If so, what tests could be performed to demonstrate this?

Well, it is easy to think of some tests. Here are seven simple ones. 1) Look up a word in a dictionary. 2) Add a very long column of numbers. 3) Play Chess really well. 4) Play Go really well. 5) Solve a really difficult research problem in theoretical physics. 6) Write a really good novel. 7) Compose a really good classical symphony.

Today, computers have passed tests 1), 2), and 3). But they play chess well by using a very poor program indeed, relying instead on a computer that is extremely fast and has plenty of memory. We're seeing really good computers. But the programs we're seeing are awful.

Maybe better tests would be to see if a team of a human plus a computer could do much better than two humans with no computer at each of those seven tasks. And here, I'm sure the answer is yes to many of these seven tasks, and could easily be yes to all of them.

Still, those who work in the field of artificial intelligence have wanted to come up with programs that exhibit some intelligent features. And one test they have tried is one proposed by Turing in 1950: if a human or computer may be in the next room and you exchange messages with her, him, or it, (maybe at a rate of one message every 15 seconds), can you tell with better than 70% accuracy after 5 minutes if the entity in the other room is human or computer?

The book discusses whether or not such a test has much to do with intelligence or artificial intelligence. And it describes the failure of programs to pass that test so far.

In 2000, several programs were entered into a contest to try to mimic a human in this manner. No judge thought a program was in fact a human. And worse than that, the book tells us that all nine of the following questions were answered correctly by all the humans, while no computer got any of the nine questions right:

1) What is the color of a blue truck?
2) Where is Sue's nose when Sue is in her house?
3) What happens to an ice cube in a hot drink?
4) Altogether how many feet do four cats have?
5) How is the father of Andy's mother related to Andy?
6) What does the letter 'M' look like when turned upside down?
7) What comes next after A1, B2, C3?
8) Reverse the digits in 41.
9) PLEASE IMITATE MY TYPING STYLE.

That shows how utterly the programs failed Turing's test.

In short, programs today are horrible at understanding, reasoning, learning, judgment, and creativity.

I liked this book. It showed that no matter what one thinks of machine intelligence, AI people have made shockingly little progress in the past fifty years.