Alan Turing's Prediction for the Year 2000
Chernicky writes "In 1950, Alan Turing , the father of computer science and (arguably) artificial intelligence, made a prediction about the year 2000. Turing said that in about fifty years, the answers of a computer would be indistinguishable from those of human beings, when asked questions by a human interrogator. With the year 2000 upon us, Dartmouth College is offering a $100,000 prize to the first programmer that can pass the Turing Test. The deadline for submissions is October 30, 1999. "
I was on a MUD. Somebody struck up a conversation with me, and then suddenly stopped. He turned to a companion and said, "OC: I feel really dumb -- I actually thought that 'bot was another player."
I must say that I was rather embarassed at being thought a 'bot, and immediately denied it -- at which point the other player said, "OC: Well, it is really believeable -- see how it even denied it was a 'bot? Whoever wrote it was good."