Brian Christian, “The Most Human Human: A Defense of Humanity in the Age of the Computer” (Penguin, 2011)

Brian Christian, “The Most Human Human: A Defense of Humanity in the Age of the Computer” (Penguin, 2011)

Can computers think? That was the question which provoked English mathematician Alan Turing to come up with what we call the Turing Test, in which a computer engages a human in conversation while a judge, unaware of who is who, looks on and tries to ascertain which participant is made of flesh and blood, and which of bits and bytes. Such a test is held every year in Brighton, England, where the most convincing human confederate is awarded a prize: The Most Human Human. There is also a prize for The Most Human Computer but to date no computer has ever been judged to be more convincingly human than a real person. Enter Brian Christian who, in 2009, took part in this test (known officially as the Loebner Prize) with the aim of being awarded the prize for Most Human Human. He was successful, and in his new book The Most Human Human: A Defense of Humanity in the Age of the Computer (Penguin, 2011) he charts the methodology of his approach, his conclusions on the conceptual value of the Turing Test and the linguistic insights which arise during conversation with a machine. The artificial intelligence of machines remains relatively primitive, but their programming is canny, and they can even appear to have robust personalities and encyclopaedic knowledge on specialist subjects. Christian’s experiences, presented in the form of his book, provide the reader with an accessible and compelling avenue into the reality of contemporary machine ‘intelligence’, the idiosyncratic tapestry that is language and, most of all, the things which make humans human; the things which machines can’t (yet) do. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/critical-theory

Jaksot(2203)

Jen Harvie, “Fair Play: Art, Performance and Neoliberalism” (Palgrave, 2013)

Jen Harvie, “Fair Play: Art, Performance and Neoliberalism” (Palgrave, 2013)

Arts and culture are under threat in the age of austerity. This threat is underpinned by the misuse of the idea of participation in contemporary performance. This is one of the central arguments of Fa...

9 Helmi 201540min

Sam Gindin and Leo Panitch, “The Making of Global Capitalism: The Political Economy of American Empire” (Verso, 2013)

Sam Gindin and Leo Panitch, “The Making of Global Capitalism: The Political Economy of American Empire” (Verso, 2013)

Two Canadian socialist thinkers have published a new book on the successes and failures, the crises, contradictions and conflicts in present-day capitalism. In The Making of Global Capitalism: The Pol...

9 Helmi 20151h 7min

Martin Shuster, “Autonomy after Auschwitz: Adorno, German Idealism and Modernity” (U of Chicago Press, 2014)

Martin Shuster, “Autonomy after Auschwitz: Adorno, German Idealism and Modernity” (U of Chicago Press, 2014)

The work of Theodore Adorno is well established as a crucial resource for understanding the complexities of contemporary capitalism, playing a foundational role in Critical Theory. Dialectic of Enligh...

2 Helmi 201547min

Steven Shaviro, “The Universe of Things: On Speculative Realism” (University of Minnesota Press, 2014)

Steven Shaviro, “The Universe of Things: On Speculative Realism” (University of Minnesota Press, 2014)

Steven Shaviro‘s new book is a wonderfully engaging study of speculative realism, new materialism, and the ways in which those fields can speak to and be informed by the philosophy of Alfred North Whi...

16 Tammi 20151h 3min

Robert Hewison, “Cultural Capital: The Rise and Fall of Creative Britain” (Verso, 2014)

Robert Hewison, “Cultural Capital: The Rise and Fall of Creative Britain” (Verso, 2014)

How did a golden age of cultural funding in UK turn to lead? This is the subject of a new cultural history by Robert Hewison. Cultural Capital: The Rise and Fall of Creative Britain (Verso, 2014) cha...

19 Joulu 201454min

Steven Fielding, “A State of Play” (Bloomsbury Academic, 2014)

Steven Fielding, “A State of Play” (Bloomsbury Academic, 2014)

To understand contemporary politics we must understand how it is represented in fiction. This is the main argument in A State of Play: British Politics on Screen, Stage and Page, from Anthony Trollop...

12 Joulu 20141h 2min

Beth Driscoll, “The New Literary Middlebrow: Readers and Tastemaking in the Twenty-First Century” (Palgrave-MacMillan, 2014)

Beth Driscoll, “The New Literary Middlebrow: Readers and Tastemaking in the Twenty-First Century” (Palgrave-MacMillan, 2014)

It is a cliche to suggest we are what we read, but it is also an important insight. In The New Literary Middlebrow: Readers and Tastemaking in the Twenty First Century (Palgrave-MacMillan, 2014), Beth...

3 Joulu 201441min

Sam Friedman, “Comedy and Distinction” (Routledge, 2014)

Sam Friedman, “Comedy and Distinction” (Routledge, 2014)

What is funny? What makes you laugh? We think of laughter as being universal idea that applies to everyone, no matter their age, ethnicity, gender or social class. In Comedy and Distinction: The Cultu...

21 Marras 201447min

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