The Turing Test Verbal Behavior as the Hallmark of Intelligence

by Shieber, Stuart M.

• ISBN13: 9780262692939
• ISBN10: 0262692937
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-06-18
• Publisher: Bradford Books

Summary

The Turing Testis part of the vocabulary of popular culture-it has appeared in works ranging from the Broadway play "Breaking the Code" to the comic strip "Robotman." The writings collected by Stuart Shieber for this book examine the profound philosophical issues surrounding the Turing Test as a criterion for intelligence. Alan Turing's idea, originally expressed in a 1950 paper titled "Computing Machinery and Intelligence" and published in the journal Mind, proposed an "indistinguishability test" that compared artifact and person. Following Descartes's dictum that it is the ability to speak that distinguishes human from beast, Turing proposed to test whether machine and person were indistinguishable in regard to verbal ability. He was not, as is often assumed, answering the question "Can machines think?" but proposing a more concrete way to ask it. Turing's proposed thought experiment encapsulates the issues that the writings in The Turing Testdefine and discuss. The first section of the book contains writings by philosophical precursors, including Descartes, who first proposed the idea of indistinguishablity tests. The second section contains all of Turing's writings on the Turing Test, including not only the Mindpaper but also less familiar ephemeral material. The final section opens with responses to Turing's paper published in Mindsoon after it first appeared. The bulk of this section, however, consists of papers from a broad spectrum of scholars in the field that directly address the issue of the Turing Test as a test for intelligence. Contributors include John R. Searle, Ned Block, Daniel C. Dennett, and Noam Chomsky (in a previously unpublished paper). Each chapter is introduced by background material that can also be read as a self-contained essay on the Turing Test.

Author Biography

Stuart M. Shieber is Harvard College Professor and James O. Welch, Jr. and Virginia B. Welch Professor of Computer Science, Division of Engineering and Applied Sciences, at Harvard University.

Table of Contents

Editorial Notes	xiii
Introduction	1	(14)
I Precursors	15	(44)
The Bête Machine	17	(42)
1 Discourse on the Method, Chapter V	23	(12)
René Descartes
If Animals Could Talk	31	(4)
2 Letter to the Marquess of Newcastle	35	(10)
René Descartes
The Homme Machine	39	(6)
3 Selections from Machine Man	45	(16)
Julien Offray de La Mettrie
II Turing's Test	59	(74)
Computer Technology	61	(72)
4 Computing Machinery and Intelligence	67	(38)
Alan M. Turing
The Ephemera	97	(8)
5 Intelligent Machinery, A Heretical Theory	105	(6)
Alan M. Turing
6 Can Digital Computers Think?	111	(6)
Alan M. Turing
7 Can Automatic Calculating Machines Be Said to Think?	117	(24)
M.H.A. Newman, Alan M. Turing, Sir Geoffrey Jefferson, and R.B. Braithwaite
III Philosophical Reaction and the Mind Responea	133	(190)
Immediate Responses	135	(6)
Can Machines Have Neuroses?	141	(24)
8 Do Machines Think about Machines Thinking	143	(8)
Leonard Pinsky
The Wedge and the Spark	147	(4)
9 The Imitation Game	151	(14)
Keith Gunderson
Early Harbingers of Later Issues	163	(2)
10 Beating the Imitation Game	165	(8)
Richard Purtill
11 In Defence of Turing	173	(4)
Geoffrey Sampson
12 On the Point of the Imitation Game	177	(6)
P.H. Millar
Turing Test Chauvinism	181	(2)
13 Subcognition and the Limits of the Turing Test	183	(18)
Robert M. French
The Spark of Intentionality	199	(2)
14 Minds, Brains, and Programs	201	(28)
John R. Searle
The Spark of Richness of Information Processing	225	(4)
15 Psychologism and Behaviorism	229	(40)
Ned Block
The Supporting View	267	(2)
16 Can Machines Think?	269	(28)
Daniel C. Dennett
The Turing Test's Evidentiary Value	293	(4)
17 An Analysis of the Turing Test	297	(10)
James H. Moor
18 Why Machines Can't Think: A Reply to James Moor	307	(4)
Douglas E Stalker
19 Explaining Computer Behavior	311	(6)
James H. Moor
Dumping the Big Question	315	(2)
20 Turing on the "Imitation Game"	317	(6)
Noam Chomsky
Conclusion	323	(2)
Acknowledgments	325	(2)
Sources	327	(4)
Bibliography	331	(10)
Index	341