Talk:Sentient computer

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[edit] Rewrote article

Completely re-wrote article to add information on real-world classification and development efforts towards sentience computers and reduce focus on article as the domain purely of science fiction. Is it OK to remove the stub flag now?? PocklingtonDan 15:06, 2 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Turing Test

"As of 2006, no computer has actually passed the Turing test as such, but it is expected to occur within the next 5 years. Trying to pass the Turing test in its full generality is not, as of 2005, an active focus of much mainstream academic or commercial effort, but some amateurs do work on the problem, mainly in the form of conversational programs such as ELIZA."

I sincerely doubt that the Turing test will be passed in 5 years (What is the reference for this?) The Turing test is not about fooling someone into believing the computer is a human (has happened before in chatboxes), but it is about fooling someone who can and will ask very specific questions into believing it is human. The human questioner is allowed to ask about any subject he/she wants and can ask questions that depend on answers given earlier.

For example I personally tried several online chatterbots including ELIZA, and no single one could even answer a simple question like "what did you have for breakfast this morning?" without giving evasive answers. Even if one does give a right answer like "I ate a bacon sandwich", the human questioner could continue to ask something like "at which supermarket did you buy the ingredients for the sandwich?". If a human continues questioning like this he will soon get some evasive response which isn't very probable from a real human's answer. If the person didn't buy the sandwich in a supermarket but at the sandwich lady across the street he would simply say so. Of course a chatterbot can be programmed to know a lot about this specific subject, remember that the questioner can ask almost anything. Just try out specific questions at any of the "advanced" state-of-the-art online chatterbots and you will see that the 5 year limit is probably a bit too early. (unless I'm mistaking and there currently are some super secret really advanced chatterbots that will pop up out of the blue in a few years).

145.97.200.254 02:21, 30 December 2006 (UTC) Strider80

I'll add a cite request for that fact - PocklingtonDan 08:17, 30 December 2006 (UTC)