Comments on: Turing Tests

By: Ann

Ann — Sat, 20 May 2006 18:56:30 +0000

I can think of an example of a person being “tested”. The staff requested that the professional doing the “testing” ask the client a question that the staff would have no way of knowing. The “professional” then asked ” when is your birthday”. staff response ” I know that”. next question “when were you born?” (isnt that the same thing ???) response -thats the same question and I know that” then the client was asked “what is your uncles name” (Finally we are getting somewhere!) client wrote something down. Whereupon the “professional” went out and asked “Does she/he have an uncle?” hmmm if YOU dont know this person has an uncle why are you asking his name?? Then spent the next hour explaining that this individual had no frontal brain function and therefore couldnt communicate.
My opinion -the professional couldnt deal with the fact that an individual that had been “tested” might have been playing him for a fool.

By: ballastexistenz

ballastexistenz — Sun, 14 May 2006 12:03:22 +0000

That reminds me of the professional who told me I was “incredibly intelligent” because I used the word “legible”.

I also do tend to often shut up when tested in really demeaning ways.

By: janaster

janaster — Sun, 14 May 2006 08:23:47 +0000

I’m reminded of one assessment where the person carrying it out picked up a book lying next to me (without asking my permission) that I had been reading when she arrived. Sceptically, she asked, “Were you really reading this?” I typed “Yes”. She started flicking through it and quizzing me – “Do you understand all of the words? Can you tell me what “transformative” means?” Eventually I became angry and overloaded and refused to type at all, thus failing her Turing test. She probably believed that it was because I really didn’t understand, rather than that I found the questioning degrading in the same way that the average person would.

And then aside from the insulting nature of the whole thing, there’s the anxiety about high-stakes performing that you mentioned. A lot of people who are very good at a certain subject do badly in structured exams for that subject for the same reason. It doesn’t necessarily mean that they can’t answer the questions, just that they have trouble answering the questions in that particular environment.

By: Justthisguy

Justthisguy — Sat, 13 May 2006 01:05:21 +0000

I think of my favorite Melville story, “Billy Budd.” Freezing up and being unable to communicate effectively in stressful social situations can happen even to “normal” people, and is much more stressful for those of us who are less socially facile. No wonder Billy clocked Taggart good and hard. It must be godawful for you to be thought mad for resisting horrible degrading dangerous insults.