So who's talking: human or machine?

Article Abstract:

The Boston Computer Museum will host a Turing Test competition on Nov 11, 1991. A Turing Test is a test to determine whether a machine can think. The test, which was suggested about 40 years ago by British mathematician Alan Turing, involves trying to determine whether responses coming from a remote terminal originate from a person or from a machine. If it is not possible to know whether the respondent is a person or a machine, said Turing, then it can be assumed that the entity on the communications channel is 'thinking.' A $100,000 prize offered by Hugh Loebner, a New York City philanthropist, adds interest to the Museum's competition, which is also supported by the National Science Foundation and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. The Turing Test was originally outlined in an article by Alan Turing in 1950 in Mind, a journal of psychology and philosophy.

Achievements and awards, Machine theory, Competitions, Artificial intelligence, Cognitive science, Contests, Philosophy of mind, Computer Museum, Loebner, Hugh

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Whole Earth state-of-art rapping

Article Abstract:

Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link (WELL) offers an electronic network for 2,600 writers, computer experts, community militants and artists, mostly in the San Francisco Bay Area. WELL is not a database or any kind of information service: it merely provides users to opportunity to communicate with each other in a written form. WELL stems from the Whole Earth Catalog, formerly a mail-order company for those seeking a back-to-the land existence. The catalog's creator, Stewart Brand, once ran a computer conferencing software company, and he decided to use his expertise to link his new-found audience. Counted among WELL users are many 'Deadheads,' followers of the Grateful Dead music group, who keep in touch over telephone lines linked to their computers. The service costs $8 per month and $3 for each hour the system is used. WELL employs five people.

Usage, Telecommunications industry, Telecommunications systems, Teleconferencing, Telecommunications Services Industry, Bulletin Board, Bulletin board services (BBS), Whole Earth Review (Periodical), Computer bulletin boards, Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link (computer network)

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'Talking' on the computer redefines human contact

Article Abstract:

Computer networks are changing the way people communicate with one another and are having a substantial impact in areas such as business, politics and special-interest groups. Computer networks link computers over telephone lines and allow users to send and receive electronic messages. Businesses are using computer networks to communicate more efficiently through electronic mail and electronic bulletin boards. Special-interest groups can become acquainted, exchange ideas and trade anecdotes over computer networks. Computer networks also provide a means of organizing politically and have been used by groups such as the Chinese students in the 1989 Tiananmen Square uprising and neo-Nazi extremists.

Communications Equipment, Social aspects, Computer networks, Innovations, Electronic mail systems, E-mail, Email, Communications, Culture, Social conditions, Activism, Political protest, Communication and culture, Computers and civilization, Computers and society, Data Communications Software, Social Issue, Political Issue

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