From: utzoo!decvax!harpo!npoiv!alice!rabbit!wolit
Newsgroups: net.general
Title: Re: Refutation of the Turing Test
Article-I.D.: rabbit.933
Posted: Wed Nov 24 09:36:25 1982
Received: Thu Nov 25 12:35:41 1982

(In response to jim@sri-unix's posting of John Searls' "refutiation"
of the Turing test)

All that this "thought experiment" shows is that the Turing test
doesn't localize the intelligence in a system.  The intelligence in
this case is obviously contained in the book of instructions (on how
to combine Chinese characters), not in the human subject.  No one
would claim that the fingers of a human taking such a test were
"intelligent", even though it is they that would work the keyboard,
for example, nor that the individual neurons that make up an
intelligent brain are "intelligent" (they are, in fact, quite
mechanical in their responses).  Similarly, there is nothing that says
that an intelligent computer could not be composed of millions of very
dumb transistors.  Douglas Hofstadter (sp?) treats this subject in his
book, "Goedel, Escher, Bach";  I'm satisfied that the Turing test can
withstand at least this minor challenge.

	Jan Wolitzky, BTL MH, rabbit!wolit