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Frank G. Bosman | The turning of Turing’s tables
he is ‘trapped’ within the limits of his virtual environment and his
programming.
̟ A third possibility is that the player is the one venting his or her an-
ger of his or her incapacitation in controlling the flow of the game,
as well as his or her awareness – usually in hindsight – of not only
Ava having been controlled the whole time by TOM, but the player,
unknowingly, as well.
Passing the test
The passing of the Turing test in The Turing Test, as is indicated at the very
end of the game, is executed on at least three different levels: Ava, TOM,
and the player.
̟ Firstly, one could argue that Ava has passed the Turing test, since
the player has not been able to perceive her as actually “being”
(controlled by) an artificial intelligence.
̟ Secondly, one could also argue that TOM has passed the Turing test,
primarily since for the first half of the game, he successfully hid his
control over Ava, thus proving he could emulate a human to such
a degree that the human judge, the player, was not able to sense
such; and secondly, since whatever choice TOM makes at the end
of the game – killing both women or letting himself be “killed” by
them – it proves his ability to emulate human behaviour and emo-
tions in either allowing himself to “sin” against his lethal proto-
col and let the organism leave Europa, or taking full responsibility
for the prevention of the organism leaving the moon, even if this
would mean taking the lives of the two women. The second inhibi-
tion is strengthened by the fact that, if TOM chooses to kill the two,
he is heard calling Ava’s name repeatedly in a soft, tender voice. Al-
though one could argue that TOM is just checking if Ava and Sarah
are really dead, the opposite, however, can be argued too: that TOM
is “humanly” sad that he felt himself forced to shoot Sarah and es-
pecially Ava, with whom he seems to have been developing an in-
timate bond.
̟ Thirdly, it is the player who could also be deemed to have passed
the Turing test successfully, whatever the player chooses to let
TOM do: to kill or to be killed. The player has passed the test, pri-
marily since for the first part of the game, the player was unaware
Limina
Grazer theologische Perspektiven, Volume 3:2
- Title
- Limina
- Subtitle
- Grazer theologische Perspektiven
- Volume
- 3:2
- Editor
- Karl Franzens University Graz
- Date
- 2020
- Language
- German
- License
- CC BY-NC 4.0
- Size
- 21.4 x 30.1 cm
- Pages
- 270
- Categories
- Zeitschriften LIMINA - Grazer theologische Perspektiven