Testing For Intelligence

In 1950 mathematician Alan Turing released a paper named Computer Machinery and Intelligence. This paper proposed a test to measure the intelligence of a machine, it was named 'The Turing Test'. Turing argued that conversation was the key to judging intelligence. The Turing test requires three body's to participate, an interrogator ( human ), another human and the other a machine. The interrogator must have a conversation with the human and machine by teletext, the conversations can be about anything, and proceed for a set period of time ( 30 to 90 minutes is a popular limit ). If, at the end of this time, the judge cannot decide which is the machine from the human on the basis of the conversation, then according to Alan Turing the machine should be declared intelligent.

The Alan Turing test has received much controversy, especially from one Hubert Dreyfus who claims "the usual hype we have come to expect from the AI world and I challenge researchers to use me as the human judge". The controversy around the Turning test is that it doesn't seem to be very general and it defines intelligence purely in terms of behaviour. Hence the Turing test is not an adequate test of intelligence. As conversation is not the only way to display intelligence.

The Turing test focuses too much on the behaviour of conversation. A computer program that sometimes miscues and says something that makes no sense does not necessarily mean its not intelligent. On the other hand, a person who has a very extensive knowledge in a small range can seem to be a computer due to this intricate knowledge. This doesn't necessarily imply intelligence either, since it says nothing about the person's ability to learn, handle a new situation, or to merely converse about some other subject. Metaphorical questions such as the mind-body problem would be of use, which would require thoughts and feelings, which a machine would have very little of. In the end, conversational skills are not the ultimate sign of intelligence.

Also in a world when the opinion of the most influential people commands 90% of our opinion how can we have a test that judges intelligence by conversation.