New Turing Book

Parsing the Turing Test: Philosophical and Methodological Issues in the Quest for the Thinking Computer
Editors: Robert Epstein, Gary Roberts & Grace Beber


Dr. Epstein opens with a Quest for the Thinking Computer, introducing Loebner's platform for developers to showcase their attempts at passing the Turing Test. One human in 1991, the very first Loebner Prize for Artificial Intelligence, was considered a machine by three of the ten judges, - the confederate effect (Shah & Henry, 2005), reverse of the Eliza Effect (Turkel, 1997 - when machines are deemed human).


Noam Chomsky records his take on Turing's Imitation Game (chapter 7, page 103), while John Searle (chapter 10, page 139), discusses fifty-five years on from Turing's seminal paper (also included, at chapter 3 of the book, page 23).


Andrew Hodges, Jack Copeland, Paul Churchland and Ray Kurzweil are amongst other chapter contributors.


Robitroners (and past Loebner winners), Robby Garner and
Kevin Copple feature with chapters, along with the late Chris McKinstry. Hugh's in there too!


Thank you to Dr. Richard Wallace for mentioning me (for a little referencing) in his piece on 'The Anatomy of A.L.I.C.E.' (chapter 13, page 209).


At $199 for the 542-paged book, think I'll ask the Uni to order a copy! Individual chapters, at $25 are available from Springer.