Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxl!ihnp4!zehntel!hplabs!sri-unix!Woody.pasa@XEROX.ARPA From: Woody.pasa@XEROX.ARPA Newsgroups: net.ai Subject: Turing tests Message-ID: <651@sri-arpa.UUCP> Date: Mon, 30-Jul-84 13:25:00 EDT Article-I.D.: sri-arpa.651 Posted: Mon Jul 30 13:25:00 1984 Date-Received: Sun, 5-Aug-84 00:24:05 EDT Lines: 25 There's this accounting computer at the Santa Fe, (where my dad works), and before it was installed, accounting was something which needed a very intelligent person to do. It required a high level of intelligence to keep the books balanced, the type of intelligence a machine could never have. The Santa Fe uses a computer to keep all their books now. But note that the discussion with accounting is now not "The computer is intelligent--look, it can keep the accounting books for an entire company", but "Gee, anyone can keep the accounting books; even a computer." The Turing test is a poor test, granted; but can there be a more generalized test to tell if a computer is truly intelligent? With the Turing test, we can give the computer and the human at the other end a test in math, understanding, and creativity; we could even talk about the presidential elections; we're not restricted to the things that have been discussed earlier. As for hooking up a camera to the computer and using visual identification as a test for intelligence: I know of a few blind people who would be hard-pressed to past that test. Sure, it takes a lot to be able to see, but then most mice can see, and some humans cannot; does that make the mice smarter than the humans? - Bill Woody 1-60 Caltech Pasadena, CA 91126