Mid-morning. You woke after eight, had
breakfast (Carol had already eaten) and read yesterday’s and today’s paper and
comic pages. The rain continues, as it will off and on for today and tomorrow.
The new science film parody Edge of Tomorrow has good summer reviews so
you may see the science fiction film today or tomorrow. You saw the preview of
another film titled, Lucy, that looks like it might be a good evolution-oriented
fun summer movie coming out in July. The star is Scarlett Johansson, enough
said. – Amorella
1018 hours. Forbes says the new Lucy trailer is a ‘perfect’
sixty-second commercial. I hope the film lives up to it; I’m sure Scarlett
will. Lost in Translation is one of my all time personal favorite films,
Scarlett is a good part of the reason for that, the other two parts are the
director Sofia Coppola and Bill Murray. What an awesomely intimate film. I
automatically projected myself into Bill Murray’s character and just lived the
moment. What a secret and suggestive film romance. Sofia Coppola shows her
genius in that film.
Too bad you could not come up with a comparable
idea, to, you know, live the moment. – Amorella
1032 hours. It would be too intense, but I have the next best thing,
the Merlyn Series’. I live the moment through ever draft and edition of these
books. Not so intense but extremely long lasting. :-)
1051 hours. Checking my email I found this in my ‘Feedspot’.
** **
Turing Test 2014
Published by Steven Novella under
Technology
The press is abuzz with the claim that a computer has
passed the famous Turing Test for the first time. The University of Reading
organized a Turing Test competition, , held at the Royal Society in London on
Saturday June 7th. The have now announced that a chatbot named Eugene Goostman
passed the test by convincing 33% of the judges that it was a human.
The Turing Test, devised by Alan Turing, was proposed as
one method for determining if artificial intelligence has been achieved. The
idea is – if a computer can convince a human through normal conversation that
it is also a human, then it will have achieved some measure of artificial
intelligence (AI).
The test, while interesting, is really more of a
gimmick, however. It cannot discern whether any particular type of AI has been
achieved. The current alleged winner is a good example – a chatbot is simply a
software program designed to imitate human conversation. There is no actual
intelligence behind the algorithm.
Of course we have to ask what we mean by AI. I think
most non-experts think of AI as a self-aware computer, like HAL from 2001.
However, the term AI is used by programmers to refer to a variety of expert
systems, and potentially any software that uses a knowledge base and a
sophisticated algorithm in order to interact adaptively with its user.
Such systems make no attempt to produce computer
awareness or even anything that can be considered thinking. They may simulate
conversation, even very well, but they are not made to think.
In this way Turing’s test has never been considered a
true test of AI self-awareness, or true AI. It really is just a test of how
well a computer can simulate human conversation.
Let’s take a look at the current claim – the test itself
seems to have been reasonably administered. Thirty judges were used for each
entry, judges has 5 minute conversations with both a real person and an AI, and
then had to decide which was which. The overall process was refereed to make
sure it was carried out well. The threshold for considering that the test was
“passed” is convincing over 30% of the judges that the AI is a person, and in
this case Eugene achieved 33%.
Already, however, there is criticism that the test was
not fair. Eugene was meant to simulate a 13 year old Ukrainian boy. This means
that his knowledge would be limited, and odd answers can be explained by being
foreign and perhaps English not being his primary language. Therefore this
lowers the bar for fooling the judges, and can explain why Eugene eked over the
30% threshold.
The press release, and many derivative news reports, are
calling this an “historic milestone.” I don’t think so. At best this is an
incremental advance in chatbot software. Even that claim is dubious, given that
the test was essentially gamed by lowering the bar.
The Turing Test has become a cultural icon, which means
that we will forever be explaining what it actually is and what it isn’t. I
don’t think it should be considered a test for AI, as most people understand
it. It should be considered a test for simulating human conversation. This is
still one very useful aspect of AI, but it is not AI itself.
To give another example, if someone engineered a robot
that could convince most people it was a human by the way it looked and moved,
that would not make it artificial life. It would make it a convincing
simulation.
I’m all for celebrating advances in computer and software
technology. Like it or not, the Turing Test is a popular idea and has the
potential to open discussions of what we mean by AI and to monitor progress in
both hardware and software in AI applications. It should be used, however, as
an opportunity to educate the public a bit more about this exciting and
increasingly important technology, not to confuse them with hyperbole.
From – neurologica blog
** **
You agree, but you are happy to see there is
progress. A machine is not a human being any more than a human being is a
machine. Smoke that in your Colorado pipe, boy. – Amorella
1059 hours. That’s funny, Amorella – a Colorado pipe – I didn’t know
there was such a term even though it is uniquely understandable.
Mid-afternoon. You had left over turkey
vegetable soup for lunch. That plan is for Papa John’s for supper. You are at
the park and Carol is walking. You put in your forty minutes earlier today.
After the walk Carol wants to go to Graeter’s and from there you are going to
Best Buys to look at televisions. She may or may not venture in with you. She
loves the picture on the 2003 Sony HD you have and is reluctant to get rid of
it but recognizes that since the DVD no longer works it is outdated and the
Sony is becoming quirky in terms of its power on and off.
1501 hours. Until the 1980’s we had only Zenith televisions, then we
switched to Sony and still have an old 25” Sony up in Kim’s old bedroom. About
eight years ago I bought Carol a 13” Toshiba with a built in DVD player for the
bedroom. Before that we had a small 12” Sony for the bedroom – mostly we
watched and still watch the late news on the bedroom screen, otherwise Carol
usually has the H/G TV on while she reads. Online some say this is a good month
to buy a ‘new’ television because the ones in January and August sales tend to
be last year’s models. It is very kind of Kim and Paul offering and really
insisting we buy a new set. We do watch a lot of television. We go out to one
or two films a year and that is about it. Otherwise, we are content with
reading magazines and books and using our Macs and/or iPads. Paul wants to
update Carol’s old iPhone to his Verizon as he did mine. She may do that next
month. (1515)
You are home from your Graeter’s trip and Best
Buys. Carol actually went in to look also. She likes both the Sony and the
Samsung sets. Both are new models. BB will deliver and haul away for sixty-nine
dollars. You measured the distance and there is no problem for the fifty-inch
screen in the corner and it should set on the TV stand you have already.
1703 hours. I’ll have to check on how to get rid of the old Sony.
Maybe Rumpke will take it if I rope it so it can be picked up and tossed into
the truck. I would just as soon get this done so I don’t have to think about
it. I’m leaning towards Sony just because we have had good luck with them. I’ll
have to do more research.
Do your research and be done with it, boy.
Think about it this way, you have both lived long enough to get what’s new and
it should last a long time. You have a kind and generous daughter and
son-in-law to give you such a present Christmas early. – Amorella
1721 hours. We do. How exciting, we are going to get a new TV!
No comments:
Post a Comment