WILL WE EVER... PASS THE TURING TEST FOR COPMPUTERS?

By: John Pavlus

Published: BBC Future; May 16 2012; http://www.bbc.com It is suggested you access the bbc website, click future, and enter the title in the search section; failing thet, just google the title and the ariter's name

Level of Difficulty:* One word of warning: don’t make this the first task in this file that you tackle
Note to the student: Listen and take notes on the following before you tacvkle the reading task. The links have been contributed by my friend and fellow teacher Nick O'Gara
http://www.radiolab.org/blogs/radiolab-blog/2012/mar/19/turing-problem/
http://www.radiolab.org/2011/may/31/

BEFORE YOU READ

Will we ever be able to create computers that think in the way we understand it? Discuss

QUESTIONS

1. What must a person do to pass the Touring test?
2. For what two reasons do computers fail the Touring test? Be brief.
3. What does it doesn’t mean in the sentence “Except it doesn’t”?
4. The views concerning computers that think in the 1960’s fail when there is some sort of ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
5. What is the example of the purpose of the book? Use your own words.
6. What quality of speech do chatbots share?
7. ALICE probably won the Loebner prize because the conversation it had with the judges was …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
8. What does “This subcognitive information refer to?
9. What exactly is the Achilles heel of a disembodied program?
10. What exactly does the phrase “But that may soon change” mean?
11. In order to have a realistic conversation a computer would not only have to accumulate ……………………………………………………….. but also ………………………………………………………………
12. Read the last paragraph of the text. Does E Dijkstra believe that computers will ever be able to think or not?

WRITING TASK

Write an essay or a paragraph discussing your views concerning computers that can think. Before doing so, check out some relevant videos on ted.com, voanews.com or YouTube

WILL WE EVER PASS THE TOURING TEST FOR COMPUTERS KEY AND TEACHER’S NOTES

This little gem also comes from that wonderful section Future on the BBC website. It is riveting, topical, has a wow factor and is simple to boot. It should fly in my view.

1. Not mistake the computer for a human.
2. The mushy parameters of the test itself (The rest is not necessary as it is et off with dash marks that function like a parenthesis. However, it is not wrong to include it. You could practice shortening answers though).
3. Intelligence doesn’t emerge.
4. Ambiguity
5. Possible answer: to try and explain why computers can’t think
6. Statelessness
7. Vacuous (Don’t say human; that is the purpose of the competition. What human quality helped ALICE win)
8. Associative sensory experiences
9. It doesn’t have a history of embodied experiences
10. Computers may soon have a history of embodied experiences; OR computers may lose or get rid of their Achilles heel.
11. All the sights, sounds and sensory experiences; analyze and correlate them.
12. He doesn’t