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Turing Test Considered Mostly Harmless

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Abstract

Turing’s landmark paper on computing machinery and intelligence is multifaceted and has an underemphasized ethical dimension. Turing’s notion of “intelligence” and “thinking” was far more encompassing than the common anthropocentric view may suggest. We discuss a number of open and underrated problems that the common interpretation of the Turing test as a test of machine intelligence entails. We suggest that a more meaningful question than “Can machines think?” is whether modern computing machinery can amplify human intelligence. We cite examples ranging from traditional silicon-based environments to carbon-based, living organisms in order to illustrate that this kind of intelligence amplification is indeed happening today. We conclude that in its interpretation as a test of machine intelligence, the Turing test may indeed be harmful for artificial intelligence (AI); in its wider interpretation, however, it remains an inspiring source for philosophy and AI alike.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Interdisciplinary Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Nagatsuta, Midori-ku, Yokohama, 226-8502, Japan

    Daniel Berrar & Akihiko Konagaya

  2. Faculty of International Research and Education, Waseda University, Nishi-Waseda, Tokyo, 169-8050, Japan

    Alfons Schuster

Authors
  1. Daniel Berrar
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  2. Akihiko Konagaya
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  3. Alfons Schuster
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Correspondence to Daniel Berrar.

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Berrar, D., Konagaya, A. & Schuster, A. Turing Test Considered Mostly Harmless. New Gener. Comput. 31, 241–263 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00354-013-0401-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00354-013-0401-2

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