Random Answers
By Peter LloydIn the Turing Test humans face off with a few computer terminals. The human subjects type a line which appears on the terminal, and in a matter of seconds a reply appears. They continue, back and forth, just as if they were conversing.
Some of the humans are talking to sophisticated computer programs. Others are talking with other humans at hidden terminals. The subjects are asked to determine whether they are talking to computers or people.
One computer program fooled half of the human judges into thinking they were talking to other humans.
Should we be concerned about this? A headline on a story in the New York Times about the Turing Test read, "Can Machines Think?"
Have you ever gotten stuck on a voice-mail system and felt for a second that you were talking to a real person? Ever talked back to it?
It happens all the time. When you talk to a computer program it's like visualizing the characters in a novel. They're not alive. But your creative imagination is.
We humans are so easy to fool because our right brains are so creatively alive. Why, we've been conned into thinking the stars and demons actually have power. When all along, it was our power at work.
But not this time. Right? When the media ask, "Man or machine?" we won't get carried away, will we? I mean, we've done some scary things out of fear, in the past. Like burning books and witches.
Well, I guess, when they start smashing computer terminals, we'll know they're at it again.
Peter Lloyd is co-creator with Stephen Grossman of Animal Crackers, the breakthrough problem-solving tool designed to crack your toughest problems.