Can a machine really think—or just fake it well enough to fool us?
In this episode of American Socrates, we dig into Alan Turing’s famous test for machine intelligence. The idea is simple: if a machine can carry on a conversation indistinguishable from a human, maybe it counts as “thinking.” But is that a good standard—or just clever imitation?
We explore why the Turing Test might be too generous, letting in machines that don’t really understand anything. And too strict—shutting out minds that don’t look like ours. Along the way, we meet Ada Lovelace, who saw these problems coming way back in the 1800s, and John Searle, whose “Chinese Room” challenges the whole idea of AI understanding.
If you've ever wondered whether machines can think—or what “thinking” even means—this one’s for you.
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