The Most Human Human What Talking with Computers Teaches Us about what it Means to be Alive

In 1950 famed mathematician Alan Turing predicted that computers would someday become so sophisticated that we "will be able to speak of machines thinking." The Turing test, which puts his theory on the line, has become the holy grail of artificial intelligence scientists. While no program has yet passed Turing's test, several have come close and are increasingly adapted by corporations, the entertainment industry, and even the medical community as human substitutes. Each year the AI community convenes for the Loebner Prize, the field's most anticipated and controversial event, where the Turing test is administered and the most advanced computer programs compete to fool a panel of judges into mistaking them for actual people. The program that wins gets the so-called Most Human Computer Award. But there is a bizarre and fascinating catch: Real people compete, too, and the one who prevails…