Another silly one, this month; it’s summer, it’s hot and time is short both for writing and reading. Even computer scientists are allowed time off …
OK then …
“To be, or not to be, that is the question” [Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 1; William Shakespeare]
So, if that’s the question, what’s the answer? Let’s see if we can use a bit of Computer Science logic to give the poor prince a hand …
So, a computer has passed the ‘Turing Test’ for ‘intelligence’, has it? No, not really; in fact, no, not at all. But, boy, has it stirred up some public interest in the subject? That alone has to be good. More than that, it’s got senior computer scientists debating anew about how the test should be implemented … and even what it actually means.
The usual bite-sized version of the Turing Test (TT) for public consumption is this … Put a human in one room, in communication with both another human and a computer in a different room. In modern terms, the communication would take the form of something like a text message conversation with each. If the first human couldn’t say which of the second human or the computer was which (or got it wrong), then that would make the computer intelligent. Last week, there was widespread coverage in the press that a computer – well a computer program – had passed the test.
Well, it’s hard to know where to begin with what’s wrong with this … Continue reading
(Does nature ‘run programs’? And, if it does, are the ‘algorithms’ any good?)
So, what is an algorithm?
No, not that; this is a far more fundamental question. What IS is algorithm? Animal? Vegetable? Mineral? Ah …
OK, start with something simpler; often the first class discussion on a pure maths degree … What IS a number? How would you answer that? Now, if you’ve pointed at something, perhaps even pictured something, you’re wrong. Continue reading
What’s your favourite terrible technological prediction? There are plenty to choose from, that’s for sure. The following is just a brief list of the most infamous computing-based futurology howlers (oldest to newest):
Turing's Radiator 