Date: Sun, 10 Aug 1997 20:07:26 +0800
From: JF Koh <koh-AT-cleo.murdoch.edu.au>
Subject: telerobotics / turing test


Does anyone know the origins of this excerpt?  Someone sent it to me
recently.  I have no idea where it's from, and I haven't had time to do a
web search, although I know the opening quote is from the Dec 96 issue of
Wired.  I thought of this when the discussion moved to Turing testing --
this might give it a new twist.  An example of not being able to tell if
something is real or not.

This should get us thinking about standards for Turing testing.  Is the
line shifting as we throw things at the test?  Have we come to expect more,
or be more discerning?  When Turing said, "so that a human being will not
be able to tell the difference", which human being would that be?

......


"When perception is mediated with electronic images that purport to be
live, the term "telepistemology" might describe the corresponding study of
what we know and how we know it," writes Goldberg and art curator Sue
Spaid.

Upon entering Legal Tender you are shown two $100 bills visible via what
you are informed is a remote videocamera. One bill is said to be quite
real, the other allegedly counterfeit. You are assigned a small sector of
each note to conduct an experiment on. A robot arm apparently under your
control will puncture, rub, burn, or stain the bills. Based on the results,
it is up to you to consider the authenticity of the bills. And the
authenticity of the entire tele-robotic laboratory. And the crime you may
or may not have committed by participating.

The idea for the piece surfaced after Paulos, Goldberg, and Canny had
independently constructed Web sites that enabled users to physically access
real robots (The Telegarden, The Mercury Project, and Interfacing Reality).
Even after the scientists worked so hard to create a realistic sensation of
moving the mechanical systems, doubting Thomases were not appeased. After
all, Web cameras had become novelties of debate as several of the
voyeuristic devices positioned on fishtanks and toilets were revealed to be
fakes, dependent on prestored digital images.

"In our previous work, we were inundated with 'hpraise' for our valiant
attempt to trick Internet users into believing that they were actually
controlling a real robot," says Paulos. "This came as a shock to most of us
as we had gone to such great lengths to insure the users that they were
actually controlling a real robot. We realized that there was no real
single element that could convince users of the believability of a system
on the remote end."

Hence Legal Tender, a Turing Test of telerobotics.



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