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AISB 2008 Symposium on the Turing Test, Reading (U.K.), 12 Oct 2008

AISB 2008 SYMPOSIUM ON THE TURING TEST

AISB 2008 SYMPOSIUM ON THE TURING TEST
- Sunday 12th October, 2008
- Palmer Building, University of Reading, Whiteknights, UK.
- Sponsored by the AISB, University of Reading and KYBERNETES

To coincide with the annual Loebner Prize this year to be held at the 
University of Reading (UK) on the 12th October, the AISB has also elected
 
to sponsor a small one day invited-speaker symposium to present an 
alternative, formal, academic critique of issues surrounding the Turing 
Test (TT), one of the aims of which is to attempt to clarify two core 
issues surrounding the TT: (a) is a canonical reading of Turing's Test 
possible and if so (b) what might such a canonical reading be?

The day will commence with a selection of speakers offering a context and
 
outlining a special perspective on the TT. These presentations are to be 
backed by four more focussed talks addressing specific issues related to 
the Turing Test (e.g. definitional; adequacy; tests in other modalities; 
technical/computational issues). As added relevance, the event is 
scheduled to be held in fully in parallel with the Loebner Prize also at 
the University of Reading. And as Kevin Warwick (Professor of Cybernetics
 
at the University of Reading) recently hinted, "hosting the Loebner Prize
 
is a great opportunity for the University of Reading. The competition is 
all about whether a machine can now pass the Turing Test, a significant 
milestone in Artificial Intelligence. I believe machines are getting 
extremely close - it would be tremendously exciting if such a world first
 
occurred in the UK, in Reading University in 2008. This is a real 
possibility."

AISB 2008 SYMPOSIUM ON THE TURING TEST
=========================
=============

09:50 WELCOME (Dr. Mark Bishop, Goldsmiths)

SESSION 1: CHAIR: Prof. Kevin Warwick (Reading)
10:00 Baroness Susan Greenfield (Oxford)

11:00 ANNOUNCEMENT ON THE TURING TEST & COFFEE

SESSION 2: CHAIR: Prof. John Barnden (Birmingham)
11:20 Prof. Selmer Bringsjord (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, USA)
12:10 Dr. Michael Wheeler (Stirling)

13:00 BREAK FOR LUNCH

SESSION 3: CHAIR: Dr. Mark Bishop (Goldsmiths)
14:00 Dr. Andrew Hodges (Oxford)
14:50 Prof. Luciano Floridi (Herts/Oxford)

15:40 LOEBNER ANNOUNCEMENT & COFFEE

SESSION 4: CHAIR: Ms. Huma Shah (Reading)
16:00 Prof. Maggie Boden (Sussex)
16:50 Prof. Owen Holland (Essex)

17:40 PANEL DISCUSSION (ALL): Is there a canonical Turing Test?

18:00 CLOSE (approx. timing)

If Professor Warwick's suspicions are well grounded, this AISB symposium 
on the Turing Test promises to be a truly groundbreaking event and we 
anticipate considerable media attention around the 11am announcement. 
Nonetheless if you are interested in attending the event in person there 
are places available; these can be reserved by sending your name+address 
and a cheque made payable to "AISB" for either: 25 (public); 20 (memb
er 
AISB) or 10 (full-time student/unemployed/OAP) to: Dr. J.M.Bishop, Dept.
 
Computing, Goldsmiths, New Cross, London, SE14 6NW.