Computer Science Tutorial

First Writing Assignment

Due: Thursday, September 18

Two recurring topics in our textbook on artificial intelligence by Jack Copeland involve discussions of the Turing Test and the Symbol System Hypothesis. For example, Chapter 3 describes the Turing Test and subsequent chapters consider evidence related to conclusions that may be made about this test. Similarly, Chapter 4 describes ``The Symbol System Hypothesis,'' drawing from earlier material (particularly in Chapter 3). Subsequent chapters ask ``How plausible is this conjecture? (Copeland, p. 83)

For the first writing assignment, you are write a 1--2 page paper on either of the following topics:

  1. State the Turing Test, discuss whether it provides a reasonable way to decide if an entity is intelligent, and justify your conclusion.

  2. State the Symbol System Hypothesis briefly, describe a few (2 or 3) arguments which you believe are particularly strong concerning whether this hypothesis is true or false, and present your view of this Hypothesis.

For either topic, you will need to paraphrase the text in stating concisely the Turing Test or Symbol System Hypothesis, and you should mention some arguments from the text concerning this topic. In addition, you should include your thoughts on the validity of these arguments, and you may want to add some additional arguments of your own on the topic.

(Note: If you have a strong preference for another topic based on Copeland's book, you must propose the topic and get approval from me by 4:00 pm on Thursday, September 11. No alternate topics will be approved after this deadline.)

In this paper, you will need to focus clearly on your topic and a few, selected arguments. In order to state the topic and related arguments carefully, you will not have space to treat other topics. Thus, interesting, but unrelated, side topics should not be included.

Your primary source for this paper will be Copeland's book, and you should include it in a bibliography. Also, any references to this book in your paper must include appropriate page numbers. As with all papers, any additional sources you consult or reference also must be included in your bibliography. (Additional sources are not required for this paper, but you should cite them if you do additional reading.)

You must use word processing software to prepare your paper, and you must run a spelling checker on your paper. (The paper will not be accepted if it contains obvious spelling errors which would be caught by a spelling checker.) You must turn in 3 copies of your paper, as printed by the word processing software on a laser-quality printer.

This document is available on the World Wide Web as 
http://www.math.grin.edu/~walker/courses/tutorial/writing/paper1.html
created August 23, 1997
last revised August 23, 1997