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: Althouse

"Are you happy being a human?" "Yes, I am. Are you? Good. Then we are both happy."

The Turing test, applied:

The test will be carried out by human 'interrogators', each sitting at a computer with a split screen: one half will be operated by an unseen human, the other by a program. The interrogators will then begin separate, simultaneous text-based conversations with both of them on any subjects they choose. After five minutes they will be asked to judge which is which. If they get it wrong, or are not sure, the program will have fooled them. According to Warwick, a program needs only to make 30 per cent or more of the interrogators unsure of its identity to be deemed as having passed the test, based on Turing's own criteria.

There are 2 sample dialogues at the link, where one is a human being and the other is a computer. The test is aimed at determining whether the computer can sound like a person, but I thought that even though the computer didn't sound too human, that the person also sounded like a computer. Perhaps, the unseen human is rooting for the computer and therefore making his responses sound like a machine who's trying to be human.

Full post as published by Althouse on October 05, 2008 (boomark / email).