Turing test - important questions

Turing test brings up many questions crucial to philosophy of mind. It was designed by a British logician Alan Turing and remains a challenge both to artificial intelligence creators and philosophers. Turing test, despite rumours, still has not been passed although more than half a century has passed since Alan Turing’s death. But what is in fact Turing test? The original aim of Turing test was to see if a machine could think. A machine in order to pass Turing test, would have to be able to engage in a conversation with a man and respond to his questions in a way which would resemble human responses so much that the man would not be able to reliably distinguish between a machine and a real human being.

Turing’s idea, while fascinating, is also a very controversial one. What does it mean to think? Is our brain just a very sophisticated machine which – with a sufficient scientific progress – could be recreated with wires instead of neurons? Many monists would argue so. Alan Turing replaced the original question “Can machines think?” with “Are there imaginable digital computers which would do well in the imitation game?”. Then we encounter another problem – could we, hypothetically, be not able to tell the difference between living organisms and machines?

5 invalid arguments that God does not exist

We have already dealt with some logical fallacies and you know how to classify them. Logical fallacies are often used in advertisement and politics but are even more explicit when it comes to religious debates. “Does God exist?” is one of the oldest philosophical questions, and to many the most important one. You have probably heard at least one argument starting with: “If God exists, then why…” or “If God is A, then why does B happen?”. It should be made clear that a huge number of these arguments are invalid and should be classified as logical fallacies. Nevertheless those who are not familiar with rules of constructing valid arguments (what is validity?) may not notice that many arguments against God’s existence are flawed and may even find them quite convincing. If you want to know what the most popular invalid arguments and their flaws are, here is the list of 5 false arguments stating that God does not exist with a brief explanation of their flaws. Some of these arguments refer strictly to the Christian God and are therefore explained in terms of Christianity.