What Computers Can’t Do andWhy There Will Always Be a Need for Stupid Humans
By P.J. O’Rourke
Are computers smarter than we are? There’s something called the “Turing Test,” which is supposed to determine if computers can “think.” The Turing Test is a double- blind experiment to see whether a computer can fool you into thinking that you’re communicating with a normal human being. Several computer programs have passed the Turing Test. Alan Turing – the creator of the test – was an English computer pioneer, logician, philosopher, and brilliant mathematician. He was one of the people at Bletchley Park who broke the German “Enigma” code during World War II. It is possible that Turing never communicated with a normal human being. Below is a transcription of two normal human beings communicating with each other. The two humans are my teenage daughter and her “BFF.” They are communicating about a third human, a “frenemy.”
Daughter: “She so did not say that.” BFF: “She so did too.” Daughter: “No way.” BFF: “Way.” Daughter: “I’m like OMG.” BFF: “LOL.” Daughter: “I mean, what?” BFF: “On Snapchat!” Daughter: “She is busted big time.” Daughter and BFF : [Twenty-minute fit of giggling] Are computers smarter than humans? Most humans probably can’t pass the Turing Test. And this shows that there’s one thing we meatbags, we skinjobs, we ugly-sacks- of-mostly-water can do that replicants, androids, synths, and all the AI on the World Wide Web will never be able to do. We can do stupid.
Are computers smarter than humans? Most humans probably can’t pass the Turing Test.
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American Consequences 71
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