[ExI] Oxford scientists edge toward quantum PC with 10b qubits.

[spike]

... On Behalf Of Kelly Anderson
...
>> That's exactly what Watson was designed and programmed to do. Make a
machine with no Jeopardy-specific programming that can be taught through
verbal human instruction to play the game, and that machine will almost
certainly pass the Turing Test. Watson isn't even close.

>...So when IBM creates a machine with the specific programming task of
"Pass the Turing Test" that won't be intelligence either, because it was
programmed to pass the Turing test... right???  Again, I just don't think
anyone has a clue how to define intelligence or consciousness... 
-Kelly

Ja.  We are quick to require computers to be able to learn and make
inferences before we are willing to define them as intelligent, but I want
us to carefully examine every requirement and make what engineers call a RVM
or requirements verification matrix.  It's a formal way to make sure what we
are asking is logically consistent.

Some forms of intelligence may not really require very much learning.
Immediately I think of my parents' neighbor who turned 90 last month.  She
is a delightful person, filled with stories of Oregon from the 1920s.  She
doesn't really learn very much, couldn't really tell you the more recent
neighbor's names.  She isn't picking up a lot of what I tell her, but that
is perfectly OK, for I do a lot more listening than I do talking when she is
with us.  She is intelligent in that she knows how to construct a good
narrative, can respond to questions and so forth.  The other day, we were
searching the internet for a song from her youth called "Cold Tater and
Wait" by Jimmy Dickens.  She was amazed to learn Jimmy Dickens is also still
living, also aged 90.

Consider the computer in front of you right now, and treat the internet as
part of that system.  It can respond to your questions in a way, has an
enormous storehouse of knowledge, beyond the comprehension of the 90 year
old neighbor.

The internet represents an intelligent being, in a sense.

spike