Katherine Mangu-Ward from the May 2011 issue
Computer programmers spar for the
title of the Most Human Computer in an annual staging of the Turing
Test, named after the pioneering computer scientist Alan Turing.
Human judges chat with computers and people for five minutes, then
try to decide which is which.
Less well known is a second award handed out at the same yearly event: the Most Human Human. In a somewhat self-indulgent but nonetheless fascinating book, the poet/geek Brian Christian describes his quest for the latter title. The Most Human Human (Doubleday) offers juicy, meandering digressions gleaned from Christian's months of preparation on topics as varied as the importance of the word um, the difficulty of programming "Barge-In-Able Conversational Dialogue Systems" for automated phone menus, the epic chess match in which IBM's Deep Blue defeated grandmaster Garry Kasparov, and the human condition's resemblance to "a monkey and a robot holding hands." —Katherine Mangu-Ward
Reason needs your support. Please donate today!
Try Reason's award-winning print edition today! Your first issue is FREE if you are not completely satisfied.
(310) 367-6109
3415 S. Sepulveda Blvd.
Suite 400
Los Angeles, CA 90034
(310) 391-2245
Editor's Note: We invite comments and request that they be civil and on-topic. We do not moderate or assume any responsibility for comments, which are owned by the readers who post them. Comments do not represent the views of Reason.com or Reason Foundation. We reserve the right to delete any comment or disable your ability to comment for any reason at any time.
sologn|6.13.11 @ 9:28AM|#
is good
قبلة الوداع|8.16.11 @ 2:04AM|#
thank u