HW #1

• Provide answers to the following discussion questions. Answers should be approximately 1-2 paragraphs in length. More importantly, your answers should be thoughtful, clearly stated, and grammatically correct. Submit your answers through Canvas in .txt, or .pdf format. (5pts/question)

  All questions refer to the paper:

  Turing, A.M. (1950). Computing machinery and intelligence. Mind, 59, 433-460.

  1. The original question raised by this paper is "can machines think". Turing is concerned that, in that form, the question is too ambiguous to be meaningfully addressed. He therefore describes the imitation game and introduces a new question:

     "What will happen when a machine takes the part of A in this game?" Will the interrogator decide wrongly as often when the game is played like this as he does when the game is played between a man and a woman?

     Do you think that the new question adequately captures the intent of the original question? In other words, do you think that the Turing test is an adequate test of intelligence? If not, why not?
  2. Turing raises, and addresses, nine different objections to the claim that machines can think. Which of these objections do you find most compelling? Do you think that Turing's reply to that objection (or objections) is convincing?
  3. Can you think of any strong objections that Turing left out of his list?
  4. In the final section of the paper, Turing speculates that the most challenging part of creating a thinking machine will be developing the right software, not creating powerful enough hardware. In fact, he believes that the machines of 1950 are already fast enough; the only remaining hardware issue is increasing storage capacity. Do you agree with him that the hardware challenges are relatively minor?
  5. Turing predicted that by the year 2000:

     [...] it will be possible to programme computers with a storage capacity of about 10⁹ to make them play the imitation game so well that an average interrogator will not have more than 70 per cent chance of making the right identification after five minutes of questioning.

     That prediction did not come true, but during the last ten years there have been occasional reports in the popular press that the test has been passed. This BBC news report describes one example.

     Do you think that the program described in the BBC article passed the Turing test? Do you think Turing would agree that the program passed his test?

  6. Do you think that it is possible for machines to be intelligent? Do you think that, in your lifetime, there will be machines that you consider to be intelligent?
• To Piazza! (10pts)
  • Each of the questions above has been posted to Piazza. Select a question that you find interesting and add a comment to the discussion section. If no one has yet responded to the question, you can simply post your answer. If there are already responses, then read them and post a reply. For full credit, you only need to post one thoughtful, on-topic comment. You are welcome to post more.