spetznaz
Senior Fanboy Killer
Originally posted by Symmetric Chaos
The Turing test is a test designed to determine if a computer can think (or convince people it can I forget which). Data is an Android.
I believe passing the Turing test basically entailed having a computer program speaking to a person on the phone for a specified number of minutes (I do not remember how long, but there were not many minutes), and the person on the other side of the phone not being able to tell whether or not it was a person or a machine.
As far as I know, no one has been able to create a computer program that can pass the turing test. While voice recognition and response software has come a long way from the staccato/broken-up responses of yore, one can still tell it is a pre-programmed response. I.e. ....say we are talking, and you abruptly change the conversation from Namor to Senior Debt that is based on derivatives, and then after that change it to your sister's vacation in Japan, and then quickly switch to a conversation about Hillary's chances of winning the election ....before changing the topic to differences between Sunni and Shia Islam.
Now, i will be able to FLAWLESSLY meld and change between the different topics, but what the BEST computer programs will do is simply try to change the topic into something that is pre-programmed (e.g. by saying, 'nice comment, but coming back to the Macintosh system' etc etc etc). That is what the best program in Japan can do.
Thus, no computer has managed to pass the test (as far as i know).
The funny thing is someone once postulated that MOST humans would not be able to pass the Turing test themselves........