

Ask HN: Would the Internet pass the Turing test? - beeker

Just wondering a) if this question makes sense and b) would it pass?
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TallGuyShort
The Turing Test is to to be indistinguishable from a human via a text
interface.

The only thing I can think of that even comes close on the Internet is a
search engine that attempts to answer questions according to the way you asked
them (for instance, Wolfram Alpha). But even then, anyone can tell the
difference between search results and a human. The Internet itself can't pass
the test because the Internet is infrastructure, it's not a single entity.

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jacquesm
no

and

it doesn't matter since it isn't a valid question.

The internet is a collection of computers connected through various links that
transfer data between themselves and the end users of those computers.

If you would rephrase your question a bit it might start to make sense:

Would it be possible for a computer connected to the internet to run an
application that could pass a turing test ?

The answer to that is 'yes', it is possible but that misses the spirit of the
Turing Test, which was to mimic intelligence, and so far we've only been able
to 'fool' a panel of judges but without any actual intelligence present in the
device doing the fooling, merely clever programming.

