Turing test Nine objections Thinking Commentary

Alan Turing philosophy of science

Turing test

• A universal Turing machine
• can simulate any other digital machine
• but could it simulate a human being’s
• thinking and consciousness?
• Turing reduced this to a less ambiguous question.
• Could a machine do what we as humans do?
• Could a machine hold a dialog with a human
• so as to be indistinguishable from another human?
• He said, yes, there’s no reason it couldn’t,
• and he proposed a simple test.

Nine objections

• We are not trying to make machines with souls,
• but to make mansions for the souls that God has made.
• Even if machines shouldn’t make humans feel inferior
• and humans wouldn’t like it, it could happen.
• Even though there are limits to logic,
• humans are also limited.
• Even though there are mysteries to consciousness
• we don’t need to solve them to create a thinking machine.
• We can make a machine behave any way we like,
• be self-aware, have a wide range of behaviors, or make mistakes.
• Even if a machine may do only what it is programmed to do,
• it can still be programmed to surprise and delight.
• With enough computing power,
• digital machines can imitate human analog systems.
• Although it seems that human behavior obeys no rules,
• machines may follow rules equally subtle and complex.
• Even if human beings have extra-sensory perceptions,
• they can leave that at the door and still behave with intelligence.

Thinking

• A poem can be made
• to appear to think
• with the benefit
• of a pair of dice
• and a set of human-
• like responses.
• “Some may say so;
• others may disagree.”
• “I wish you’d tell me
• what you expect.”
• “I’m not telling you
• how to run your life.”
• “Examine yourself;
• you’re no Einstein.”
• “Can I get back
• to you on that?”
• “The answer is 42.”
• Toss those dice.
• If you don’t do it,
• someone else will.
• Ha, ha. Oddly,
• it’s not that hard.
• I mean other things
• are harder.