Sneha Dasgupta
Dr. Sheryl Stevenson
TRN190
October 26, 2015
Interdependency between Humans and Machines in The Turing Test
In the words of Dr. Cynthia Breazeal, the creator of Kismet, one of the first social robots, “Robots are really intriguing social technologies. They touch something deeply human within us.” Yet, in Chris Beckett’s The Turing Test, Jess feels “uneasy” around her new personal assistant, Ellie. Her constant request “to copy myself from time to time to others in your address book” (Beckett 7) seems “pushy”. However, we must consider the fact that, while, Dr. Cynthia Breazeal created Kismet, Jessica was merely introduced to Ellie’s software. These two instances of contrasting views, make us wonder: How can we clearly define …show more content…
She continues to reiterate, “that in blind trials I pass the Turing Test in more than 99% of cases” (Beckett 7). “The Turing Test” is a test of a machine's ability to exhibit intelligent behavior equivalent to, or indistinguishable from, that of a human. In this way, we could say that the aforementioned quote simultaneously brings out both the humanity and technology of the Personal Assistant. Drawing upon this, Dr. Robert Sparrow, proposed “The Turing Triage Test” that can assess “when will machines become persons” (Sparrow 2011). This test was formulated as a result of the increasing humanization of machines. Dr. Sparrow wanted to determine if a machine that could pass “The Turing Test” could be human, in the sense that, could it carry the “conscience” of a human being. In that case, would Ellie pass “The Turing Triage Test”? Note that, the “triage” over here, involves Jessica, the Personal Assistant and Jeff as the patients, who desperately need a treatment of their conscience. Basically, if a situation arose, where Jessica had to choose between the Personal Assistant and Jeff, whom would she choose? Choosing the Assistant, would
Dr. Sheryl Stevenson
TRN190
October 26, 2015
Interdependency between Humans and Machines in The Turing Test
In the words of Dr. Cynthia Breazeal, the creator of Kismet, one of the first social robots, “Robots are really intriguing social technologies. They touch something deeply human within us.” Yet, in Chris Beckett’s The Turing Test, Jess feels “uneasy” around her new personal assistant, Ellie. Her constant request “to copy myself from time to time to others in your address book” (Beckett 7) seems “pushy”. However, we must consider the fact that, while, Dr. Cynthia Breazeal created Kismet, Jessica was merely introduced to Ellie’s software. These two instances of contrasting views, make us wonder: How can we clearly define …show more content…
She continues to reiterate, “that in blind trials I pass the Turing Test in more than 99% of cases” (Beckett 7). “The Turing Test” is a test of a machine's ability to exhibit intelligent behavior equivalent to, or indistinguishable from, that of a human. In this way, we could say that the aforementioned quote simultaneously brings out both the humanity and technology of the Personal Assistant. Drawing upon this, Dr. Robert Sparrow, proposed “The Turing Triage Test” that can assess “when will machines become persons” (Sparrow 2011). This test was formulated as a result of the increasing humanization of machines. Dr. Sparrow wanted to determine if a machine that could pass “The Turing Test” could be human, in the sense that, could it carry the “conscience” of a human being. In that case, would Ellie pass “The Turing Triage Test”? Note that, the “triage” over here, involves Jessica, the Personal Assistant and Jeff as the patients, who desperately need a treatment of their conscience. Basically, if a situation arose, where Jessica had to choose between the Personal Assistant and Jeff, whom would she choose? Choosing the Assistant, would