Would Data pass the Turing Test?
- Thread starter Trekker4747
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So the Turing test is a bit like Whose Line Is It Anyway?
What would be a (very) few typical questions in a Turing Test?
Might help the discussion.
The questions don't matter. The answers don't even matter, what matters is How the question is answered and whether the answer can pass as one being provided by a person.
It would seem to me the ability to pass would depend on how fluidly the conversation flows. The subject's ability to recall, process and coherently continue a line of conversation.
I'm sure many people here have played around with Cleverbot. Now, that's hardly the most advanced AI out there and I don't think anyone could suggest it had a chance of passing the test, but the criteria for being able to pass makes me think of interactions with Cleverbot as being something that clearly does not work and shows how AI fails. Attempting anything close to an actual conversation with it makes talking to a blackout drunk feel like conversing with a master debater by comparison.
We have to look at the goals Soong had in mind when it came to creating his androids. Was he trying to create the perfect artificial being in order to perform tasks better than people or was he built to be a pure artificial lifeform?
We know it to be the latter. Data was meant to be an artificial being and, thus, "pass" as human as much as possible. Having him remotely or wirelessly communicate with computers would be inconsistent with that.
Sure Data has many skills that are faster than person's like his ability to read and interact withe computer but that's akin to "skill" maybe notone he had to learn like playing music, acting, or playing insturments but his computer skills are along the same lines. Some people type faster than others, some people juggle geese.
Quite to the contrary, the instances where Data uses contractions are numerous; it's not a matter of going unnoticed unless you have some proof that it is; and there's nothing that would make those uses a "mistake".
In turn, it's trivially easy to explain the two instances you mention. Riker indeed has uncovered the fake Data (nay, the fake universe) long before making the imitator uncomfortable with his questioning. That the non-Data even falters on the contraction issue is just further proof that he's a fake!
Lal using contractions isn't making anybody but Data go "aah, ooh!". And Data is the father - he'd go "aah, ooh!" if Lal blinked. Which he incidentally does... Data merely makes the claim that he has not "mastered" the use of contractions, which is about as relevant as his claim that he has not "mastered" subterfuge, romance or humor, all of which he does so well Turing would probably marry him without realizing anything was amiss.
Data has no problems using language as he pleases - he can do accents, he can do voices, he can fluently lie and curse in multiple languages. All this we have seen and heard. It's just that Soong made him a modest and reserved person who prefers to appear stilted (so that the villagers don't light up the pitchforks), a theme that rather consistently carries across TNG and keeps Data from really evolving.
He was made to look like a human, but then given inhuman eyes and skin. Clearly, the intent was to make him easily distinguishable from human. The same probably goes for his manners, his patterns of speech and the way he combs his hair - it's all there to put people at ease.
As for the wireless connection, it's very clear Data has nothing of the sort. Which is for the best, as Data is being mindjacked every second episode anyway. I could easily see Soong being afraid that his competitors would tap into his secrets if there existed a remote means of doing so... Data exists solely to show off Soong's skills, after all, but clearly at his "birth" still remained a test article Soong never was ready to release to the public. Once burned with critique, twice shy about releasing anything at all, until it is absolutely perfect.
Heck, it may be for this reason that Data never volunteered the information that he was built by Soong, not until "Datalore" tickled him the right way. One of his many mental blocks prevented him from revealing Soong's trademark secrets except as part of an actual Soong sales pitch - which the visit to the Creator's lab emulated closely enough to weaken the block.
Now, if you really want something that makes Data look inconsistently incompetent, pay attention to the speed at which he performs mechanical tasks with his hands. We know he's strong; we know he doesn't have X-ray vision or Vulcan hearing; we know he walks only a tad faster than humans and cannot swim; but we also know that he can type or shuffle isolinear chips faster than the eye can follow, i.e. move his forearms and fingers really fast even if his body or legs can't quite match the speed.
All fine and well, until we get to situations like "Identity Crisis" where Data is supposed to construct a piece of equipment to resolve a time-critical crisis, and spectacularly fails to be superfast about the arranging of the relevant components. How come? Are only repetitive tasks capable of being accelerated, while anything Data has to think over needs to go at human speed?
Timo Saloniemi
If soong's goal was to pass Data as as human a being as possible then it is a lamentable failure, the yellowish skin, definitely not gold as gold has a metallic aspect that Data doesn't have, the "I cannot do contractions" thing, the Data can't repeat any expression he's heard without replacing some words by improbable ones, the Data can't even understand colloquial expressions like "take a rain check" after decades of functioning, the Data doesn't understand human emotion even though computer subroutines like Moriarty, Countess Bartolomew, Vic fontaine, The doctor, Da Vinci... ect, obviously do, even minutes after their creation.
Let's face it. Data is a major flop.
Not using contractions would come off as odd but not as inhuman. I think, if the person taking the test knew that one of the two responses was from a machine, he would be able to identify Data as the machine. But if he didn't not know this, he would not draw that conclusion.
You know the Turing test goes both ways. A human being might try to fool you into thinking that he's a sophisticated computer program for example and in light of that, someone might eventually realize that Data is a good actor trying his best to stick to a misguided conception of what an android should sound like.
Because he clearly does have them & always did. In fact, the model seems to be built with them innately. Lore had them & Lal had an aberration that allowed them to develop in her, even though she was designed from core downloads directly from Data. In all likelihood, Soong just created some kind of programming blocks that prevented Data from accessing ALL his emotional properties, & that emotion chip is really just a key, with some additional data attached. It's not much of a leap to think Data only needed to unlock his emotional properties, given that he inadvertently triggered the premature unlocking of his dream program, due to accidental overload of some kind. It may have even been a property that would've been unlocked with the incorporation of the chip
Data has always had emotion. That everyone believes he doesn't is primarily because he has declared it to be so, and it kind of appears so in many cases, because he has stunted emotions, compared to a normal person, but to anyone really watching Data, he exhibits emotion all the time. That's why Data is the Tin Man. He always had a heart. Even Ira Graves knew that
One of my favorite examples is in Data's Day when they make a sudden course alteration toward the Neutral Zone
Then he turns back from having been distracted from his work, to take particular notice of himself nervously tapping on the console. Even he has noticed his emotional tendencies from time to time
This is more or less the theory I've always had, and I like the idea of the "Tin Man" approach. Data has always had emotions on some level. He may not have broad ones like fear, anger, love, but there's something there. Making connections with people, "missing" them when absent (one of the things he describes as being part of friendship), and the desire to do things are all rooted in emotions.
He may have needed the chip to hate and to love or really *feel* these strong emotions but he does have something of emotions in the base model.
Yes, I noticed that and found that odd. But why would we be constantly reminded that Data doesn't have emotion by pretty much every one, including Soong himself! That seems a bit strange to me. Doesn't it to you?
I've noticed that the way Data describes a friend, applies to a toilet seat as well:
You've an interesting relationship with your toilet seat.
Getting personal again? I thought you were told that it was a no no...
Well, yeah, but not in the same way I'd miss a friend or a loved one. I'd be more like: "Who broke into my apartment and stole my toilet seat? And how did they get past my alarm?", "Damn, now I have to call maintenance and get a new seat!" "But, more immediately, I have to uncomfortably sit on cold porcelain to drop the kids off."
The predicate being: "The way DATA describes a friend".
You should write those things down.
BTW, you were officially told to leave me alone and stop getting personal. I see that you have trouble abiding by that.
Also regarding Data's inability to understand some expressions: Some of my Indian coworkers need local expressions explained to them too, it doesn't mean I'd mistake them for computers.
Unlike Indian immigrants, Data's first language is English, also unlike those immigrants Data has access to Encyclopedias where those expressions should all be explained in detail.Hell, our internet is likely much less of an Encyclopedia than anything Data has access to and yet it contains all these expressions, not to mention multiple examples of their usage. Data's ignorance is absolutely incomprehensible, in any form of coherent reality, that is.
Data would not pass the test.
His character was deliberately written so that he would stand out as not being human. His mood & affect, appearance and speech intentionally create the impression he is not a true person but something else.
His character was deliberately written so that he would stand out as not being human. His mood & affect, appearance and speech intentionally create the impression he is not a true person but something else.
I have no doubt that it was their intention, but were they competent in knowing what characteristics or limitations a robot should have? Nope. The "can't do contractions" quirk may be conspicuous and even annoying at times but it no more makes Data a robot than if they had written "I am a robot" on his forehead and in fact it is just as ridiculous.
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