[과제] On Turing's "Computing Machinery and Intelligence"

Most criticisms of the imitation game focus on the insufficiency of the game as a criterion of thinking; in other words, they say that there is more to thinking than just being able to pass the imitation game and satisfy Turing's operational definitions. But I thought of the following case which points out the limitation of the imitation game from another perspective, namely that the imitation may in some cases not even correctly identify entities that are clearly thinking.

 

Consider a person whose sensory and central nervous system functions are all intact and well-functioning but whose motor functions have been severed; in other words, this person can think, feel, sleep, dream and perform all mental functions as is normal for a person, but unfortunately cannot move or express her thoughts or feelings. Due to her condition, she will not be able to pass the Turing Test; she will not be able to provide any answers at all. Thus the verdict of the Turing Test for this completely well-thinking individual would be that it is in fact an entity that cannot think, which is simply incorrect.

 

Such a case is much, much more realistic than, say, conceiving a philosophical zombie; there are actual empirical cases in which conscious people capable of cognition are paralyzed and unable to intervene in the manner they want. As such, the imitation game's inability to accurately diagnose that this person is indeed thinking seems to reveal, in the least, a clear limitation of the imitation game.