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From: krista@sandman.hut.fi (Krista Hannele Lagus)
Newsgroups: comp.ai.philosophy
Subject: Re: Turing Test: opinions on an idea
Message-ID: <1991May20.115838.8969@nntp.hut.fi>
Date: 20 May 91 11:58:38 GMT
References: <1991May15.055331.10631@cs.ubc.ca> <53693@nigel.ee.udel.edu> <1991May16.143804.16487@msuinfo.cl.msu.edu> <1991May17.064714.5942@latcs2.lat.oz.au> <76933@eerie.acsu.Buffalo.EDU>
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Erich Bohm writes:

>Similarly, Turing suggests we could have a person in one room and 
>a computer in the other, both claiming to be a person, and you 
>would have to decide on the truth. Obviously, if you failed at this 
>task (or could only guess at chance level), then one would be inclined 
>to say that the computer was intelligent, the alternative being out of the
>question in polite company. 

One thing about Turing tests disturbes me:  If the test is whether or
not one can tell the difference between a computer and a person, I
don't think one could derive anything about any participants
intelligence. The premise for deciding about the computer's
intelligence would be a requirement that both the person making the
decision and the other one trying to deceive were intelligent also.

There are stupid people, why couldn't there be stupid computers?
What are we *trying* to measure with Turing tests? The intelligence,
consciousness or humanlikeness?  Why would intelligence necessarily be
like human intelligence (if such a type exists)? When will wi invent a
computer that tries to decide which one is which, the person and the
computer, and how does it interpret the results, which one is the
measure of intelligence, the human or the computer? 

Krista Lagus