Week 7: Automata

Write a one paragraph describing the Turing test and another paragraph describing an argument against the Turing Test, known as the about the Chinese room.


Turning test:
The turning test can be described as a way to test a machines (system) “capability to demonstrate thought” (Turning, 1950). This demonstrates a computer/system operating without the need of a user (operator). The turning test, tests “whether or not a system is intelligent” (University of Alberta, n.d). When looking at turning testing Alan Turning came up with the test and described it as when a person/human is having a conversation on the computer/system. If the person/human cannot “distinguish the machine from a human” (University of Alberta, n.d) the system would be deemed as intelligent. This can be interpreted as when a person is on a computer and receives replies the person does not know it is a computer not another person replying to their instructions.


University of Alberta.(n.d). Dictionary of cognitive science. Retrieved May 3, 2009 from: http://www.bcp.psych.ualberta.ca/~mike/Pearl_Street/Dictionary/contents/T/turing_test.html



Chinese room:
In contrast the Chinese room argument shows that if the system uses Chinese symbols then the system would pass the turning test. This argument shows that if the system replies with Chinese symbols the user may think it’s another human which it is not. This in theory would be a successful turning test but the system might just send out Chinese symbols but the symbols do not make sense with the question or conversation. Searle states that a Chinese speaker communicates with the system can the system responds in Chinese the person might think it is another person but the system might not actually be intelligent (Eliasmith, 2004). This demonstrates that the Chinese speaker may think it is another speaker who may not know how to read the symbols properly.

Chris Eliasmith.(2004). Chinese room. Retrieved May 4, 2009 from: http://philosophy.uwaterloo.ca/MindDict/chineseroom.html


Can virtual agents succeed in delivering high-quality customer service over the Web? Think of examples which support or disprove the question or just offer an opinion based on your personal experience.

There are many different categories concerning agents. Such categories are:
· Mobile agents
· Distributed agents
· Autonomous agents
· Intelligent agents
· Fuzzy agents


Knox,I.(2009) Automata week 7 power point presentation.


When discussing whether or not a virtual agent can succeed in delivering high quality customer service over the web, there are a few different things to consider. The internet has many virtual agents. Such companies as Google have agents which when a user/customer put in a word or question into the search engine the agent gives a reply with similar websites relating. This can be successful but also frustrating in my experience. When putting in a word of phrase into the search engine the response is not necessarily correct and might not even be completely relevant. In such cases as Google and other search engines which require agents this demonstrates not always does the agent give high quality customer service. The agent ideally gives the best customer service it can but does not always give the customer what they ideally want (Rappa, 2005).


Rappa,M.(2005) Automata. Retrieved May 2, 2009 from: http://digitalenterprise.org/transcripts/automata_tr.html