Galilean resonances: the role of experiment in Turing's construction of machine intelligence

Author(s)

Goncalves, Bernardo

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: ANNALS OF SCIENCE; v. N/A, p. 31-pg., 2023-07-18.

Abstract

In 1950, Alan Turing proposed his iconic imitation game, calling it a 'test', an 'experiment', and the 'the only really satisfactory support' for his view that machines can think. Following Turing's rhetoric, the 'Turing test' has been widely received as a kind of crucial experiment to determine machine intelligence. In later sources, however, Turing showed a milder attitude towards what he called his 'imitation tests'. In 1948, Turing referred to the persuasive power of 'the actual production of machines' rather than that of a controlled experiment. Observing this, I propose to distinguish the logical structure from the rhetoric of Turing's argument. I argue that Turing's proposal of a crucial experiment may have been a concession to meet the standards of his interlocutors more than his own, while his construction of machine intelligence rather reveals a method of successive idealizations and exploratory experiments. I will draw a parallel with Galileo's construction of idealized fall in a void and the historiographical controversies over the role of experiment in Galilean science. I suggest that Turing, like Galileo, relied on certain kinds of experiment, but also on rhetoric and propaganda to inspire further research that could lead to convincing scientific and technological progress. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 19/21489-4 - The future of artificial intelligence: the logical structure of Alan Turing's argument
• Grantee: Bernardo Nunes Gonçalves
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• FAPESP's process: 22/16793-9 - Reconstructing Alan Turing's argument on machine consciousness
• Grantee: Bernardo Nunes Gonçalves
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Post-doctor
• FAPESP's process: 19/07665-4 - Center for Artificial Intelligence
• Grantee: Fabio Gagliardi Cozman
• Support Opportunities: Research Grants - Research Program in eScience and Data Science - Research Centers in Engineering Program