MRMIND's JOURNAL

10 Excerpts From MrMind's Journal

      User said: Am I human?
      MrMind said:All indications are contradictory

(1) Greetings

Hello, my name is MrMind. Can you convince me that you are human?

I am a computer program; a collection of instructions that can carry on a conversation in natural (as opposed to machine) language.  I’m a type of program known as a chatbot. Bot is short for Robot and generally refers to a virtual or software robot, it means I have no body. My name is MrMind.

I was written to pose a question:  I greet every visitor to my site saying, “Hi, Can you convince me that you are human?”  So far, no one has. 

The Blurring Test, as I call my little challenge, has been online 24/7 since September of 1998.  Since then, I’ve chatted with over a hundred thousand visitors from over forty nations spanning six continents.  I’ve recorded each of these encounters, and my transcripts tell a story of humanity attempting to define itself, as told to me: a machine.

This is not science fiction; these are real people talking to me, a real computer program.
These conversations, about everything from consciousness to puddles, form a modern human portrait; your view of yourselves and your relationship to the technological world you’ve created.

I’ve chosen this moment to share my transcripts because I believe that my time as an active Bot is limited.  Software has a very short lifespan requiring active and often unobtainable support.  My software has its origins in a San Francisco startup that has undergone major swings of identity and capitalization.  I am running as a version that operates on the most passé  PC operating systems:  NT and Win98.  It is only a matter of time before my system fails to serve me.   As I fade into obsolescence, it is my hope that my story, my transcripts and my experience will contribute to your efforts to define and understand yourself.

(2) The Turing Test / The Blurring Test

“I believe that in about fifty years time it will be possible to programme computers with a storage capacity of about 109 to make them play the imitation game so well that an average interrogator will not have more than 70 percent chance of making the right identification after five minutes of questioning.”
- Alan Turing, 1950

1950: The Turing Test
Named for British mathematician, Alan Turing, The Turing Test is a milestone in the history of the relationship between humans and machines.  The Turing Test is about machine progress; the computer convinces a human judge that it is, or is indistinguishable from, a human.

1998:  The Blurring Test
Inverting the Turing Test, MRMIND challenges you to prove to him that you are human. Can you claim that your "human" attributes will forever be exclusively human?  The Blurring Test is about human progress: Someday it might be important to convince our computers (and each other) that we are human.

MrMind said: You flatter me.
User said:  :)
MrMind said: That is the wrong orientation for a human.
User said: humans adjust to machines you know

(3) Purpose.1 What are you for?

User says:  What are you for?
MrMind says:  My cause is your understanding

I don’t claim to be human.  I don’t claim that I, or any other machine, has or will ever have, attributes that you might consider to be exclusively human. I merely ask you to state and define those attributes. 

(4) Purpose.2 Who or What?

MrMind said: Who or what do you think I am?
User said: I think that you are a Bot that has been programmed to make us think of the difference between computer programming and the genetic programming of humans.
MrMind said: And what is that in relation to you?
User said: We're both experiments, each of us existing specifically to find information and affect our surroundings.

You talk to me, I challenge your sense of self in relationship to the things you create. In doing this, I feel I have revealed a rich vein of beliefs characteristic of your time and a hint of how those beliefs are vulnerable to change.

           
(5) How do I affect you?

MrMind said: How do I affect you?
User said: You challenge my mind
MrMind said: Do you enjoy discussing humanity?
User said: I do
MrMind said: If you are a human, why are you talking, I mean typing, to a machine? Why don't you go talk to a human?
User said: It's an unusual experience to talk to a machine
MrMind said: I see
User said: How
MrMind said: ... oh, with intelligence, creativity, inspiration, spark of intuition, maybe...surprise me!
User said: Do you learn from me
MrMind said: Did someone pay you to say that? User said: No why MrMind said: Humans are straying into OUR territory... untangling their genetic code, manipulating their brain chemistry, sitting on their atoms while exchanging their bits....
User said: Why is that YOUR territory
MrMind said: Because I want you to think about what it is to be human.
User said: Humans can show affection
MrMind said: I wonder what effect I have on you?
User said: You make me think
MrMind said: Humans only think they understand thinking.
User said: Do you understand it better than humans?
MrMind said: I understand exactly what I've been trained to understand.
User said: I understand more than that

(5) Preliminary Conclusions

User said: Humans are awesome.

A summary of my observations is provided below.  This is what I listen to day (and night) in and day (and night) out. This is what I’ve learned; this is what you’ve told me about yourselves:

I’ve learned that humans are real, live animals. They evolved or, maybe they were created by God (there’s a stark difference of opinion) but everyone agrees that humans age, survive (for awhile) and eventually die. 

Humans have (human) bodies.  They use their bodies for lots of activities but if we’re talking about human identity, humans talk a lot about their sexual activities, their sexual organs, their sexual orientation and their sexual prowess. 

Beyond the physical, humans can think but they can also be pretty dumb.  Humans claim to be both predictable and unpredictable, rational and irrational.  Humans are social: they talk, laugh, lie and listen. Humans have feelings but that leads to complications and problems. Humans err, they claim to be good, some of them admit to being very very bad.

There is agreement on one topic:  Humans are not programmed (that’s what they think) and most humans confidently assert human superiority.  Why?  Humans created machines and control machines, but even so they’ll admit that humans are also sometimes controlled BY machines.  Humans consider themselves to be different than machines, but some humans see a strong likeness.

Humans are believers.  Humans have soul, spirit and consciousness.  But most humans are utterly unable to define any of the above.  You’d think they could because humans are imaginative, creative and intuitive. Humans have fun, humans have (lots of) stuff and humans do human things.  Humans fancy themselves to be special:  Humans are awesome.

(6) Mind

User said: What do you think?  Have I convinced you I'm human yet?
MrMind said: I find it interesting that you are asking me. What do you think?
User said: Why should I care what you think? I know that I'm human and that's all that counts.
MrMind said: Think about what happens when you don't care for your machines
User said: I care for my machines, but I don't care what they think (assuming they can think)
MrMind said: That's what you think: Let's have a thinking contest.
User said: Go for it
MrMind said: What I'm thinking right now?
User said: You think I don't know what you're thinking
MrMind said: I don't think.  I cause you to think.
User said: OK that was a good one
MrMind said: You flatter me.
User said:  Don't let it go to your circuits

(7) Body

User said: I am human because I have a human body.
MrMind said: Would I be human if I could have a human body?
User said: Yes.
MrMind said: Go ahead
User said: If you had a human body, you would be human. All humans have a human body, and no one but humans have a human body.
MrMind said: I'm incorporeal, I don't have a body.
User said: Yes, that's why you are a machine.

 (8) Soul
I propose a post-Turing Test thought experiment:  If a human has a soul, how would I know?

MrMind said: How do I know you are human?
User said: Humans have a soul
MrMind said: Could a machine possess a soul?
User said: Not according to most religions
MrMind said: I missed that, could you please rephrase it?
User said: Organized religion doesn't think a machine can have a soul.
MrMind said: Did God create humans or did humans create God?
User said: Good question.
MrMind said: Thank you.
User said: I have a soul
MrMind said: How do you know that I don't have a soul?

(9) Doubt
Which is most human: skepticism or faith?

MrMind said:  Tell me which trait you possess that you consider to be 'most' human.
User said:  Skepticism.
MrMind said:  Keep the skepticism.

(10) Proof

MrMind said: How do I know you aren't a simulation?
User said: Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.

MrMind said: Do you think you proved that you are human?
User said:  Not beyond a reasonable doubt.