Now, if — like me — you just couldn`t make it to Reykjavik between January and April you`ll have missed them.
Reykjavik by day. Don't you wish you were there?
Fortunately for people like us Luca Aceto, a professor in the School of Computer Science and the first presenter in the series, has been blogging about the talks at his Process Algebra Diary page (it looks like he didn’t blog number four, but if I find it I’ll add it):
In addition to discussing each event, he has ensured that audio files, and in some cases promotional posters and slides, are available for download, so that those of us who couldn’t attend can still join in the fun.
Reykjavik in the evening. Seriously?
So thanks to the internet — which we have in part thanks to Turing himself — we can share in Alan Turing Year events around the world, no matter where we may be at a given moment.
As a bonus, I’ve embedded Professor Aceto’s lecture Developing software is a game!, below. It’s brief (8 minutes), entertaining, and informative.
“A Great science fiction detective story”
- Ian Watson, author of The Universal Machine
Days to Centenary: 70
Just in time for the Turing Centenary and the Alan Turing Year, Wired magazine reported just days ago that we may soon see a genuine contender for an artificial intelligence that can pass the Turing Test, or as Turing himself called it, the Imitation Game.
If you´re new to this area — and many people are learning about Turing for the first time this year — the Turing Test in a nutshell requires three participants:
a human judge
a hidden human who communicates with the judge only in writing, basically by text message
a hidden artificial intelligence that similarly communicates with the judge only in writing
The judge knows that either participant 2 or participant 3 is a computer, while 2 and 3 both have to try to convince the judge that they´re the human being. If the computer succeeds, it has passed the Turing Test and has earned the right to be treated as intelligent without any consideration of the means by which it managed that persuasion.
An image of the front of Turing´s groundbreaking paper
The test was set out in a paper entitled Computing Machinery and Intelligence, published in 1950, which effectively founded the discipline of artificial intelligence.
One rationale for the test is that it reproduces exactly the way in which we humans deal with one another. Experientially, the only person I know is intelligent — whatever flaws there might be in that faculty — is me, because I know my own thoughts directly. When I meet you, or anyone else, I can only judge what your internal life might be by interpreting your outward behaviour.
In other words, I have no way of knowing to a certainty that you´re a sentient being, but if you behave like one then I will tend to adopt the operational assumption that you are indeed one.
Why — Turing asked — should a machine be dealt with any differently?
A copy of the issue of Mind in which Turing´s paper appeared
That competition has not so far produced anything that is likely to pass the Turing Test any time soon. A recent article in the esteemed-but-paywall-protected journal Science (Dusting Off the Turing Test, by Robert M. French. Science, Vol. 336 No. 6088, April 13, 2012) has postulated that that situation may soon change.
Given the paywall, I am relying on a report from Wired about the article:
“Two revolutionary advances in information technology may bring the Turing test out of retirement,” wrote Robert French, a cognitive scientist at the French National Center for Scientific Research, in an Apr. 12 Science essay. “The first is the ready availability of vast amounts of raw data — from video feeds to complete sound environments, and from casual conversations to technical documents on every conceivable subject. The second is the advent of sophisticated techniques for collecting, organizing, and processing this rich collection of data.”
Notoriously, the human mind proved to be less like a computer than had been thought in the mid-20th century, so success at the Turing Test was more problematic than expected, to the extent that many people dismissed the quest entirely, but the Science article appears to take the position that this was a mistake. Says Wired:
Suppose, for a moment, that all the words you have ever spoken, heard, written, or read, as well as all the visual scenes and all the sounds you have ever experienced, were recorded and accessible, along with similar data for hundreds of thousands, even millions, of other people. Ultimately, tactile, and olfactory sensors could also be added to complete this record of sensory experience over time,” wrote French in Science, with a nod to MIT researcher Deb Roy’s recordings of 200,000 hours of his infant son’s waking development.
He continued, “Assume also that the software exists to catalog, analyze, correlate, and cross-link everything in this sea of data. These data and the capacity to analyze them appropriately could allow a machine to answer heretofore computer-unanswerable questions” and even pass a Turing test.
It´s a timely moment to revive Turing´s specualtions, given his approaching centenary. It seems unlikely that the Turing Test will actually be passed this year, but 2012 would be a welcome moment to reinvigorate the search for a successful contestant.
I cited a few other examples of LGBT scientists, intending to finish posting my prepared list of scientific luminaries in today´s post. Then, in the Turing Centenary Twitter feed, I asked if people wanted to suggest any names. I´m going to put the rest of my list on hold so I can focus on two responses I got.
The first response I got had nothing in particular to do with discrimination against today´s LGBT scientists (that part´s further down the page) — it just happens to involve two fascinating gay men who were scientists by trade. One had a scientific life that was entirely distinct from his work, while for the other his work and his orientation were all part of a whole.
I´ve never met @RalfBuelow (he´s in Germany and I´m in Brazil), but we´ve had at least one good conversation and he´s got an awesome web site called Retro-Futurismus.
He suggested two names: American Richard Montague (1930–1971) and German Magnus Hirschfeld (1868–1935), both choices that were not on my original list and each interesting in its own way.
Richard Montague
Montague was an accomplished mathematician and philosopher working in logic and set theory. In 1971 he was strangled to death in his home in a murder that is still unsolved. Montague had apparently brought several people home from a bar one evening and then was killed by one or more of them.
His life and murder were the foundation for no fewer than three novels: The Semantics of Murder (by Aifric Campbell), Less Than Meets the Eye (by David Berlinski, about whom more below), and The Mad Man (by Hugo- and Nebula-winning gay science fiction master Samuel R. Delaney). You can find an article on some of Montague´s fictional incarnations here.
In his book Black Mischief: Language, Life, Logic, Luck, Berlinski gives a portrait of a Montague as a man of provocative wit:
Richard Montague was a small, very dapper, compact, cufflink of a character. He was dressed in a neat blue suit, a snowy white shirt, and a matching crimson tie. We had met for drinks in mid-town Manhattan—he, Daniel Gallin, and I. His hands, I noticed, were square, the fingernails manicured and covered with a clear polish. A logician by profession, Montague had a reputation for great technical brilliance. His papers were adroit, carefully written, biting, and completely beyond the intellectual grasp of all but a handful of analytic philosophers.
…
We talked of taxes and politics and how on Earth do you survive in this place—meaning New York. Then the discussion turned to mathematics and Montague cheered up. He had just commenced his research program into formal grammars and had published a series of papers of truly monstrous technicality. He liked to imagine that he and Chomsky were rivals. “There are,” he said, “two great frauds in the history of twentieth-century science. One of them is Chomsky.”
I reached for the peanuts.
“And the other?”
“Albert Einstein,” Montague said decisively, glad that I had asked.
I´ve included Berliner´s account here because it´s entertaining, but frankly if Berliner told me the sky was blue I´d double check. He´s an advocate of the ¨theory¨ of intelligent design who works for the Discovery Institute, a right-wing, ostensibly Christian, advocacy organization think tank which argues that there is a controversy among scientists over the accuracy of the theory of evolution, which there isn´t in any meaningful sense. I´m just sayin´.
Richard Montague
Magnus Hirschfeld
Magnus Hirschfeld was a physician and a gay man and was one of the earliest advocates for sexual minorities. Erie Gay News summarizes his work:
In 1919, Hirschfeld founded the Institute for Sexual Research, which housed a vast library on sexuality and the Museum of Sex, provided educational services and resources, and offered medical consultations. The same year, he produced the film “Different From the Others,” likely the first gay film.
In 1921, Hirschfeld organized the First Congress for Sexual Reform, during which the World League for Sexual Reform (WLSR) was formed. Touring internationally, he promoted the WLSR and its goals. At its peak, the WLSR boasted 130,000 members worldwide.
With the rise of the Nazi Party, Hirschfeld came under attack both politically and personally. On May 6, 1933, while Hirschfeld was abroad, a mob of students and storm troopers raided the Institute for Sexual Research. They burned books, journals and other materials in a bonfire to cleanse the city of “un-German” materials.
Exiled, Hirschfeld settled in Nice, France, and died two years later. He left a legacy of innovative research and advocacy.
San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown declared May 14 — which was his birthday and also the date of his death — “Magnus Hirschfeld Day” in recognition of his contributions to sexual emancipation.
Left: A cartoon mocking Hirschfeld for his activism, Right: Nazis raid the Institute (images from Homocaust web site)
The Price Paid: the Scientific Closet
The other response came from @alanturingreads and deals directly with the current state of the scientific closet.
On the brighter side, the article does chart some of the progress that´s been made in the career prospects of science-oriented members of the LGBT community.
It highlights Out to Innovate, “A Career Summit for LGBT Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Students and Professionals.” On the one hand it´s a shame that in the 21st century something like OTI is still necessary — on the other hand, given that it´s necessary, it´s good to see it happening.
A highlight reel from the 2010 Out to Innovate is embedded below.
“A Great science fiction detective story”
- Ian Watson, author of The Universal Machine
Days to Centenary: 77
As many people will know by now, a very popular petition is circulating to have Alan Turing appear on the new £10 note. As I write this the petition has almost 15,000 signatures.
The Current Pound Note
In my original on this topic, I pointed out that this particular denomination was particularly well-suited to Turing, being made up exclusively of ones and zeroes.
I also proposed a contest to design a Turing Tenner. Just to get the ball rolling I took out my meagre Photoshop skills and came up with this masterpiece, showing a smiling Turing against a field of ones and zeroes.
Nas's Turing Tenner
Someone out there can do better — I have no doubt of it – so I offered a modest prize package to whoever outdid me. The package is outlined at the bottom of this post because I think there´s something even better than the prizes that I want to talk about first.
When I put up my post today, which looks at Manchester´s decision to honour Turing at this year´s Gay Pride Festival, it got me thinking.
I haven´t heard of Turing being featured at other Pride events. Maybe it´s happening, but if so it´s not very high profile, and I personally think that in the Alan Turing Year he ought to have some presence in every Pride celebration everywhere — an exhibit, a float in the parade, or something to mark one of the greatest geniuses the LGBT community has ever produced, and one who excelled in public service to boot.
So I´m extending the deadline for the Turing Tenner design contest to May 31 to give people more time to do their best work and raising its goal a little. The winning entry will still have their tenner posted here and will still get their prize package, but I want to try to engineer something a little loftier and more public-spirited.
I think copies of the Turing Tenner should be in circulation at Pride celebrations all over the world. They should have one side blank, partly because we don´t want them to look enough like real currency to cause any controversy, and partly to make them useful.
They can be used to scribble down important notes (like who ordered which drinks when one person makes a run to the bar, or the specific spot where you and your friend are going to meet up after briefly splitting up in the mob). They can be scattered as confetti — Pride events can always use more confetti . Or they can simply become keepsakes of Pride in the Alan Turing Year.
I´m willing to do my part to help make it happen, but first someone has to create the winning design. In fact you should create it, right now, so break out the Photoshop, create some awesome art, and email it to nas@nassauhedron.com. I´ll get it into as many cities as I can.
Start your graphics programs!
The Prize Package is normall priced at US$20.00 and includes:
First, a special edition of the ebook of my novel, Luck and Death at the Edge of the World, in which Alan Turing makes an appearance of sorts (an AI must be temporarily be instantiated into a synthetic human body and chooses to use one in the likeness of Turing).
The special edition includes The Fictional Life of Alan Turing, dealing with Turing´s life after death as a fictional character in the works of some great (and some obscure) writers, including science fiction superstars like Rudy Rucker, Greg Egan, and Harry Harrison and scientists-turned-author like Marvin Minsky and Janna Levin as well as an introduction to the science behind the fiction in the story.
It also includes The Science and Fiction of Luck and Death, a look at some of the real-life science behind the story, incuding present-day cybernetic technology.
Next, you get two short stories, which will be issued as stand-alone ebooks for sale in 2012, set in the same world as Luck and Death.
Finally, you get the next novel in the series, called In the Empire of the Monkey King.
And with luck your Turing Tenner will be at Pride celebrations from Brazil to the U.S., from Canada to the U.K. and more.
“A Great science fiction detective story”
- Ian Watson, author of The Universal Machine
Days to Centenary: 77
The Turing Tenner Showdown deadline has been extended for a final time to May 31! Design the best £10 note honouring Alan Turing and win prizes!
So why May 31? Because it gives people time to submit their best designs, it allows time to decide on a winner, and most importantly it gives us time to get the winning design out to LGBT groups all over the world before Pride celebrations start.
Once Pride gets going, whether you´re in San Francisco, London, or Hamburg, the Turing Tenner should be circulating like confetti.
It seems to me that in the Alan Turing Year every Pride celebration from Pride Toronto to São Paulo Gay Pride (the largest in the world) should have a queer science theme, or at least an event or exhibit devoted to Turing and LGBT scientists, but Manchester´s decision is a damned fine start.
Toronto Pride 2008 (c) Nassau Hedron
The LGBT community has long had a strong association with the arts, but part of normalizing sexual diversity is recognizing that it´s found everywhere. There are gay artists and writers, but there are gay politicians, lesbian genetic researchers, and bisexual bankers.
Heck, if professional hockey players can associate themselves with sexual diversity through the You Can Play campaign , then surely we science geeks can embrace our diverse roots.
In that spirit, and as a kind of warm-up exercise to limber ourselves up for Gay Pride, here are a few LGBT science greats, some well known to the public at large, some known primarily within their own fields.
The list isn´t short, and even with a very short bio it takes time to do each person justice, so I´ll start today and finish tomorrow.
James B. Pollack (1938–1994) was an openly gay American astrophysicist and a student and friend of Carl Sagan who worked for NASA’s Ames Research Center. In 1989 he received the Gerard P. Kuiper Prize for outstanding lifetime achievement in the field of planetary science.
Sir Francis Bacon(1561–1626). Not to be confused with the painter Francis Bacon (1909–1992), who was also gay. There is some argument about whether Bacon preferred relationships with men or women, but no doubt that he had both. Bacon was a philosopher of science and has been referred to as “the high priest of modern science” for setting out the principles of the scientific method, laying down the principles for scientific enquiry in general just as Turing laid down the principles that would guide the development of the computer. He was also a statesman, acting as bothAttorney General and Lord Chancellor of England.
Sara Josephine Baker (1873–1945) Another person with a name double, and not to be confused with the awesome dancer, civil rights activist, and bisexual Josephine Baker. The scientific Josephine Baker was an American physician and publi health pioneer. She was also apparently a morbid stand’up comedian with a social conscience, sort of like a female Lenny Bruce with an M.D., once commenting on the lives of the poor in the U.S. by observing that a person was more likely to die by being born in the United States than as a soldier in World War I.
Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519). Never heard of this bloke, but apparently he used to be famous once or something.
More scientists to come!
A Note about”Gay Science”: The title of this post includes the words “gay science” and some of you will be thinking, hang on a minute, I´ve heard that somewhere. That´s because that crazy dude Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche — the one who said that God was dead and who invented Superman, or wait, maybe it was the superman — wrote a book called The Gay Science, but since it was published in 1882 he didn´t mean gay the way we mean gay. He was using a common phrase of the day for the skill required to write poetry, which the book contained. As far as I know he wasn´t gay.
“A Great science fiction detective story”
- Ian Watson, author of The Universal Machine
Days to Centenary: 82
The Turing Tenner Showdown deadline has been extended to April 15! Design the best £10 note honouring Alan Turing, win prizes, and be the envy of your friends! Go here for details.
As the Alan Turing Year progresses, it continues to manifest itself in a variety of ways.
The newest: a bursary program in support of computing projects sponsored by BCS, the chartered institute for information technology. According to a news item:
An education bursary worth £30,000 has been launched by BCS, the chartered institute for IT, to mark Alan Turing’s centenary year.
The money will be used to support between 30 and 60 computing-related projects in schools and universities, helping to promote computer science as an academic discipline and nurture the next generation of people with careers in IT.
According to Bill Mitchell, the director of the BCS Academy of Computing, the bursary is “the first of several initiatives” the institute intends to launch to boost computer science teaching in the UK.
We should offer every student the opportunity to learn the workings of the digital systems that pervade their world… It is important we continue to nurture talent and give people the right opportunities to create.”
As much as I appreciate the various symbolic aspects of the Alan Turing Year, it’s good to see that it’s also generating practical measures that will not only honour Turing’s legacy, but also build upon it.
This is an excellent video with some really engaging anecdotes, but it has a long and not especially interesting prologue, so let it buffer for a moment or two and then skip ahead to 5:00, which is when Christian is actually introduced.
The Turing Test remained largely a theoretical construct until the creation of the Loebner Prize.
Hugh Loebner, as Christian says, was “a rogue disco dance floor salesman from New Jersey” who got rich selling plastic roll-up lighted portable disco dance floors.
In 1991 he decided to put his disco earnings to good use and sponsored a real-life Turing Test as a competition for a solid gold medal he dubbed the Loebner Prize and the event has run every year since.
The Loebner Prize Medal (with an irreverent caption) from the contest's home page
The Loebner Prize web site describes the history of the prize as follows:
In 1990 Hugh Loebner agreed with The Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies to underwrite a contest designed to implement the Turing Test. Dr. Loebner pledged a Grand Prize of $100,000 and a Gold Medal (pictured above) for the first computer whose responses were indistinguishable from a human’s. Such a computer can be said “to think.” Each year an annual prize of $2000 and a bronze medal is awarded to the most human-like computer. The winner of the annual contest is the best entry relative to other entries that year, irrespective of how good it is in an absolute sense.
Brian Christian signed up to be a “confederate” in the competition, that is, one of the humans who must convince the judges — through words alone, without being seen — that they are a human rather than a computer imitating a human.
He used this as a jumping off point to examine the question of what it means to act human, or even to be human, not just within the Loebner Prize, but in the rest of life as well, and what can artificial intelligence do to shed light on these questions.
