[extropy-chat] The reverse Turing Test

[Jef Allbright]

I recently recognized the existence of a relatively new phenomenon
which, as far as I can tell, lacks a good descriptive name.  Maybe the
extropy list can coin one.

Most of us are familiar with the Turing Test, describing the situation
where a human is in text-only communication with another entity, and
the human tries to determine whether the other entity is a human,
versus a computer pretending to have human understanding.

The situation I've come to recognize is almost the reverse, where a
human is in text-only communication with another entity, and the human
tries to determine whether the other entity really understands the
topic being discussed, versus a human only pretending to understand by
using a computer (Google, Wikipedia, etc.).

In such a case, the entity always claims to understand the topic, but
appears to quote heavily and literally from sources available on the
web.  When the human rephrases concepts in non-standard ways as a test
of understanding, the entity typically responds by initiating a new
conversational thread based on some alternative text findable on the
web, like a strangely updated parody of Weizenbaum's ELIZA.

I've seen this reverse Turing phenomenon often enough to think it
could use a name.

The Googling Test?
The Web-Touring test?

Suggestions?

- Jef