In his essay, “Computing Machinery and Intelligence,” Alan Turing poses the question, “Can machines think?” (433). Turing takes the position that machines can, indeed, think depending on how one defines thought. Although he states that he “should begin with the definitions of the meaning of the terms ‘machine’ and ‘think,’” he does not directly provide the reader with his definition of thought (433). Instead, he spends a lengthy amount of time exploring a replacement question that manifests itself in the form of the imitation game. By replacing the original question with one surrounding the imitation game could it be that Turing has placed a hidden definition for the act of thinking within the ideology behind the imitation game?
In order to …show more content…
In most games, one employs the best methods they believe are capable of achieving the best possible result: a win. He mentions that the strongest strategy for the woman in the original game is “to probably give truthful answers” because her goal is to get the interrogator to guess correctly (434). In his essay, Turing wonders what would happen if a machine were to take on the part of A and a man were to take on the part of B in the game. In this role, the machine would be attempting to lead the interrogator to an erroneous conclusion. Throughout the essay, he suggests strategies for the machine such as “[providing] answers that would naturally be given by a man” (435) or “not [attempting] to give the right answers to arithmetic problems,” but instead “deliberately [introducing] mistakes…to confuse the interrogator” (448). However, he proposes that “the best strategy for the machine may possibly be something other than imitation of behavior of a man” (435). From Turing’s suggestions, the reader sees that playing the imitation game involves a great deal of strategizing on the part of the participants if they want to have a good chance for success. Since Turing is using the imitation game as a way to compare the capacity to think between a human and machine, is he suggesting that the act of thinking equates to the act of
In order to …show more content…
In most games, one employs the best methods they believe are capable of achieving the best possible result: a win. He mentions that the strongest strategy for the woman in the original game is “to probably give truthful answers” because her goal is to get the interrogator to guess correctly (434). In his essay, Turing wonders what would happen if a machine were to take on the part of A and a man were to take on the part of B in the game. In this role, the machine would be attempting to lead the interrogator to an erroneous conclusion. Throughout the essay, he suggests strategies for the machine such as “[providing] answers that would naturally be given by a man” (435) or “not [attempting] to give the right answers to arithmetic problems,” but instead “deliberately [introducing] mistakes…to confuse the interrogator” (448). However, he proposes that “the best strategy for the machine may possibly be something other than imitation of behavior of a man” (435). From Turing’s suggestions, the reader sees that playing the imitation game involves a great deal of strategizing on the part of the participants if they want to have a good chance for success. Since Turing is using the imitation game as a way to compare the capacity to think between a human and machine, is he suggesting that the act of thinking equates to the act of