Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 38, No. 398.
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        Date: 2025-03-12 23:45:44+00:00
        From: scholar-at-large@bell.net <scholar-at-large@bell.net>
        Subject: CBC Ideas -  Spirits and Computing

Willard

Turning the question of can machine think into what do we believe … an hour’s
exploration from CBC Radio Ideas "We believe in artificial intelligence the same
way we believe in ghosts” aired March 12, 2025.  The blurb for the show produced
by Jennifer Jill Fellows:

[quote]
Hidden in the 1950 academic paper that launched the famous 'Turning Test' of
machine intelligence, is a strange mystery. Cryptographer Alan Turning argued
that humans might always be able to outsmart machines, because we have
supernatural powers like ESP, telepathy, and telekinesis. His belief in the
paranormal is just one part of the spooky side of artificial intelligence. Like
hauntings or seances, AI is an exercise in self-deception; we imagine
intelligence from computation and data, just like we imagine ghosts from strange
lights and bumps in the night.
[/quote]

https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-23-ideas/clip/16133623-we-believe-
artificial-intelligence-believe-ghosts <https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-
radio/1-23-ideas/clip/16133623-we-believe-artificial-intelligence-believe-
ghosts>

A good yarn if not the most rigorously argued of points.

François


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