Wednesday, June 8, 2011

It HAS A Name

Captcha.  That is the word for the messed-up series of letters and numbers you have to decipher and type into a box in order to access the web site you are trying to use.  The point is to keep spammers out.  I know that because it says so right on top of the wonky letters. Captcha stands for, believe it or not:  “Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart.”  THE Turing, he of the Turing Test was involved in its development.  THE Turing Test which can tell the difference between a human and a computer, without looking.  I think captchas are reeeeallly annoying if I can't figure them out.  If I can they're kind of fun puzzles.

Brand spankin' new book on the Turing Test:  The most human human : what talking with computers teaches us about what it means to be alive / Brian Christian

Source:  Laser Focus World, Jul2009, Vol. 45 Issue 7, p72-72, 1p
as accessed through EBSCOHost

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