Rethinking Turing’s Test and the Philosophical Implications

Type of content
Journal Article
Thesis discipline
Degree name
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Language
en
Date
2020
Authors
Proudfoot, Diane
Abstract

© 2020, Springer Nature B.V. In the 70 years since Alan Turing’s ‘Computing Machinery and Intelligence’ appeared in Mind, there have been two widely-accepted interpretations of the Turing test: the canonical behaviourist interpretation and the rival inductive or epistemic interpretation. These readings are based on Turing’s Mind paper; few seem aware that Turing described two other versions of the imitation game. I have argued that both readings are inconsistent with Turing’s 1948 and 1952 statements about intelligence, and fail to explain the design of his game. I argue instead for a response-dependence interpretation (Proudfoot 2013). This interpretation has implications for Turing’s view of free will: I argue that Turing’s writings suggest a new form of free will compatibilism, which I call response-dependence compatibilism (Proudfoot 2017a). The philosophical implications of rethinking Turing’s test go yet further. It is assumed by numerous theorists that Turing anticipated the computational theory of mind. On the contrary, I argue, his remarks on intelligence and free will lead to a new objection to computationalism.

Description
Citation
Proudfoot D (2020). Rethinking Turing’s Test and the Philosophical Implications. Minds and Machines: Journal for Artificial Intelligence, Philosophy and Cognitive Science. 30(4). 487-512.
Keywords
Turing, Turing test, response-dependence, free will, computational theory of mind, computationalism
Ngā upoko tukutuku/Māori subject headings
ANZSRC fields of research
08 Information and Computing Sciences
17 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences
22 Philosophy and Religious Studies
Fields of Research::50 - Philosophy and religious studies::5003 - Philosophy::500312 - Philosophy of cognition
Fields of Research::50 - Philosophy and religious studies::5003 - Philosophy::500315 - Philosophy of mind (excl. cognition)
Fields of Research::52 - Psychology::5204 - Cognitive and computational psychology::520401 - Cognition
Fields of Research::46 - Information and computing sciences::4602 - Artificial intelligence
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