Yesterday, the Russian chatterbot “Eugene Goostman” by a team of Russian and Ukrainian developers became the first machine to pass a Turing test, under the academic event organizers’ interpretation of the test as originally described by British mathematician Alan Turing. The competition was held at the Royal Society in London, England, and was organized by Kevin Warwick and Huma Shah of the University of Reading to mark the 60th anniversary of Turing’s death on June 7, 1954.
The Turing test is a test of artificial intelligence aiming to fulfil the suggestion of Alan Turing in his 1950 paper “Computing Machinery and Intelligence”, which stated that within fifty years, an “average interrogator” would, following a five-minute long conversation, “not have more than 70 per cent chance” of correctly predicting whether they are speaking to a human, or a machine — which would be able to, as such, fool at least 30% of human judges into thinking it is human.
Statue of Alan Turing at Bletchley Park. Image: Antoine Taveneaux.
In the contest, where Eugene Goostman and four other bots competed, the bot successfully tricked 33% of the participating judges, which included television actor Robert Llewellyn of the BBC television series Red Dwarf, and John Sharkey, Baron Sharkey, a sponsor of Turing’s 2013 posthumous pardon. To give the bot a “believable personality”, Goostman is portrayed as being a thirteen year-old boy of the Ukraine; the bot’s head developer Vladimir Veselov stated that this made Goostman “not too old to know everything and not too young to know nothing”.
The bot had previously come close to beating the Turing test on several occasions; it has been a three-time runner-up for the Loebner Prize, and it won a Turing contest at Bletchley Park in 2012, held to mark the 100th anniversary of Turing’s birth. In the 2012 Bletchley Park competition Goostman was, notably, only one percent away from the target of 30%.
Speaking about the achievement, Warwick stated: “Some will claim that the Test has already been passed. The words Turing Test have been applied to similar competitions around the world. However this event involved the most simultaneous comparison tests than ever before, was independently verified and, crucially, the conversations were unrestricted. A true Turing Test does not set the questions or topics prior to the conversations. We are therefore proud to declare that Alan Turing’s Test was passed for the first time on Saturday.”
Veselov felt that the achievement was “remarkable”, and suggested that it could help increase interest in artificial intelligence and chatterbot technology.
It is difficult to choose an outsourcer because it’s hard to tell the difference between good and bad computer security. By the same token, it’s hard to tell the difference between good and bad medical care. Because most of us aren’t healthcare experts, we can sometimes be led astray by bad doctors who appear to be good. So how do we choose a doctor or a hospital? I choose one by asking around, getting recommendations, and going with the best I can find. Medical care involves trust; I need to be able to trust my doctor.
Security outsourcing is no different; companies should choose an outsourcer they trust. Talking with others and asking industry analysts will reveal the best security service providers. Go with the industry leader. In both security and medical care, you don’t want a little-known maverick. Companies buying security services should also avoid outsourcers that have conflicts of interest. Some outsourcers offer security management and monitoring. This worries me. If the outsourcer finds a security problem with my network, will the company tell me or try to fix it quietly?
Companies that both sell and manage security products have the same conflict of interest. Consulting companies that offer periodic vulnerability scans, or network monitoring, have a different conflict of interest: they see the managed services as a way to sell consulting services. (There’s a reason companies hire outside auditors: it keeps everyone honest.) Outsourcers offering combined management and monitoring services will be among the next to disappear, I believe. If a company outsources security device management, it is essential that it outsource its monitoring to a different company.
In any outsourcing decision requiring an ongoing relationship, the financial health of the outsourcer is critical. The last thing anyone wants is to embark on a long-term medical treatment plan only to have the hospital go out of business midstream. Similarly, organizations that entrusted their security management to Salinas and Pilot were left stranded when those companies went out of business.
Modern society is built around specialization; more tasks are outsourced today then ever before. We outsource fire and police services, government (that’s what a representative democracy is), and food preparation. Businesses commonly outsource tax preparation, payroll, and cleaning services. Companies also outsource security: all buildings hire another company to put guards in their lobbies, and every bank hires another company to drive its money around town.
In general, we outsource things that have one of three characteristics: they’re complex, important, or distasteful. Computer security is all three. Its distastefulness comes from the difficulty, the drudgery, and the 3 a.m. alarms. Its complexity comes out of the intricacies of modern networks, the rate at which threats change and attacks improve, and ever-evolving network services. Its importance comes from this fact of today’s business world: companies have no choice but to open their networks to the Internet.
Doctors and hospitals are the only way to get adequate medical care. Similarly, offshore outsourcing is the only way to get adequate security for today’s networks.
About the Author: For further information on offshore outsourcing and offshore software development, please visit
A 1965 Volkswagen minibus that was stolen in 1974 has been recovered by customs agents in Los Angeles. The vintage minibus was in pristine condition, valued at $25,000, and was found during a routine inspection of a shipping container scheduled for departure to The Netherlands. A routine computer database search on its vehicle identification number flagged it as having been stolen from a vehicle upholstery shop in Spokane, Washington on July 12, 1974. A custom restoration business in Arizona was attempting to deliver it to overseas clients last month when authorities intercepted the vehicle.
“Pretty amazing, isn’t it?”
The theft appeared on the National Insurance Crime Bureau database, which is used by border authorities and contains all stolen vehicle records. Most police databases remove unsolved vehicle thefts after five years.
The California Highway Patrol does not suspect the restorer of wrongdoing, according to investigating officer Mike Maleta. Possession of the vehicle apparently changed several times. Police in Spokane have not yet located the rightful owner, whose identity has not been released to the press. Maleta hopes that a trail of registration documents and interviews will uncover the thief.
“[The restoration firm owner is] a victim himself. He was an innocent purchaser…”
The Allstate insurance company paid $2500 shortly after the theft occurred and wants to take possession of the vintage minibus. Allstate spokeswoman Megan Brunet expects that after the necessary paperwork is processed the firm will sell it at auction.
The bride and bridesmaids hold the most noticeable flowers on the wedding day, but they are simply not the solitary flowers essential for that special day. The gentlemen in the marriage celebration, counting the bride’s father as well as the Page Boys, every single one needs a buttonhole flower that goes together with, or corresponds with the bouquets. The other men in the family can in addition be offered a different flower or bud. Always keep in mind that the buttonhole flowers are supposed to be positioned pointing upwards. The mothers of both, the bride and groom need a spray each. The spray does not necessarily have to go with the flowers of the bride. You must confirm their colors with their outfit collection. Men customarily have on their buttonholes on the left lapel and the women have their respective ones worn on their right side.
For the bride the modern wedding bouquets are usually not as big and traditional, and are less likely to take the focus away from the dress. Although they will usually have a wow factor of their very own if chosen well.
The Flower girls: The Flower girls might or might not require flowers. It is up to the bride to decide whether she wants her flower girls to carry flowers. A few flower girls hold a basket filled with flowers or maybe even a spray. There are others who spray petals and a few even hold an extra souvenir for instance cupids, ribbon preparations, teddy bears made exceptionally for weddings or sometimes also a theme of a wedding dream catcher. It may possibly be that the Flower Girl, in addition holds on to the ring bear or ring pillow if a Page Boy is not present.
The flower arrangements: Additional flower provisions rely on the location and fashion of the wedding. Flower preparations are frequently to be found in the church and party spaces. The flowers may be positioned at the extreme ends of the few pews placed in front for the relatives, at a wedding celebrated in a church. The tables at the party area may perhaps comprise of a flowery showpiece each. The bouquets of the bride and her assistants decorate the Table meant for the Bride and the tables that are meant for cutting the cake and signing the register.
Why not add a few extra touches: In memory of the period of the courtship and the engagement, you could use all the dried up flowers that were exchanged then. These add to the passionate additions of the special day. The petals that have been dried can be placed into the basket of the flower girl or scattered across the table of the bride or the table where the cake is to be placed as an adornment. If there is an adequate amount, the petals could be put to use so as to spray the bridal pair or draped in organza as a memento for the guests. Nowadays, there are a number of brides who add to their bouquets two additional flowers. As the bride walks down the aisle, she halts and presents one flower to her Mother. Coming back, she presents the other flower to her now Mother-in-Law.
About the Author: At ‘For A Wedding’ we have been helping couples plan their weddings for many years, now we are putting some of our knowledge and recommendations where they can be used by everyone.
Security experts warn more and more teenagers are now into hi-tech computer crime. Alarmingly large number of teenagers are found peddling credit card numbers, phishing kits and cracking tips in some Internet forums. The young offenders are very likely to get caught and prosecuted due to their inferior technical skills, claim experts.
Swapping malicious programs, knowledge, stolen data, exploits and virus code are very popular with teenagers exposed to the world of computer crime. Online communities and web forums sharing application cracks, exotic exploits and virus code make it easy for teens to do the illegal activities. Many nuisance programs are written by teenagers to exploit users of social networking sites, says Chris Boyd, director of malware research at FaceTime Security.
“Some are quite crude, some are clever and some are stupid,” said Mr Boyd. Attempts to make money by dabbling in cyber crime quite often fails due to a lack of technical skills. “They do not even know enough to get a simple phishing or attack tool right,” said Kevin Hogan, a senior manager of Symantec Security Response. The teenagers often end up damaging their own PCs by the viruses they have written.
Teenagers desire to win recognition for their exploits make them post revealing videos in sites such as YouTube. They commonly sign on with the same alias used to crack a site, run a phishing attack or write a web exploit. They are thus easily tracked down by computer security experts.
Some are quite crude, some are clever and some are stupid.
Mathew Bevan, arrested as a teenager cyber criminal and then acquitted, says teens enjoy the “thrill and power to prove they are somebody”. Thus they end up sticking to the same alias, even at a risk of being caught. “The aim of what they are doing is to get the fame within their peer group,” he said. “They spend months or years developing who they are and their status. They do not want to give that up freely.”
Graham Robb, a board member of the Youth Justice Board, cautions about the life-long stigma on being caught. “If they get a criminal record it stays with them,” he said. “A Criminal Records Bureau check will throw that up and it could prevent access to jobs.”
‘Fascinating’ and ‘provocative’ research examines genetic elements of bipolar, schizophrenia
Last week, Nature Genetics carried twin studies into the genetics of bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. This special report examines the month’s research into the illnesses in detail, with Wikinews obtaining comment from experts based in Australia, the United States, and the United Kingdom ahead of the U.S. Mental Illness Awareness Week, which starts tomorrow.
Eleven genetic regions were identified; seven of these were for schizophrenia and five of those were hitherto undiscovered. The parallel studies, conducted separately, examined more than 50,000 people worldwide and identified two genetic loci associated with both diseases.
Little is known about the two illnesses, each of which affects around 1% of people and is treated with strong medication. Bipolar sufferers experience extremes of mood – depression and mania, hence the previous name “manic depression” for the illness. Schizophrenia is associated with hearing voices, chaotic thoughts, and paranoia. There is no known cure.
The latest research examined both the healthy and the afflicted, using computers to scan genomes. Inheritance was thought to be a factor from prior knowledge of the diseases as a familial trait, but the original desire had been to isolate a single faulty gene. Instead it has become apparent that the genetic factors are many; in the case of schizophrenia, at most around 30% of the genetic components are thought to have been identified.
If any single centre tried to undertake such a study, it would require millions of pounds.
The University of Chicago’s Pablo Gejman, a lead researcher on the schizophrenia study, explained to Wikinews in a telephone interview from Buenos Aires, Argentina that “One of the goals of genetic research is to find druggable targets” – to “find treatments at the root of the problem”.
Whilst noting that there is no guarantee the genetic code identified is druggable, Gejman named calcium-activated neurochemical channels in the brain as candidates for new drugs. The channels were linked to schizophrenia in the study.
Gejman explained that a genetic locus called mir137 “suggests an abnormality of gene regulation.” The diseases are so poorly understood that it is uncertain if they are in fact two components of a single spectrum, or even each comprised of multiple illnesses.
The new and “provocative data” gathered showed the significant loci identified were “not part of the pre-existent hypothesis.” Calling this “interesting”, Gejman added that the team found no evidence that dopamine receptors are involved; current drug treatments target dopamine receptors. The findings are “not related to anything we thought we knew [about schizophrenia],” he told our correspondent.
Quizzed about the possibility variations in the genetic factors involved in expressing the diseases explained the variation seen in symptoms, Gejman was uncertain. “We will have the answer, probably, only when we sequence the whole [human] genome.” He notes that the relationship between genotype and phenotype is unclear, and that “We know very little of the genetic architecture of schizophrenia and” other disorders.At the time the results were published, participating scientist Professor Rodney Scott from the University of Newcastle in Australia said “The strength of this research is in the numbers. The findings are robust and give us a lot of statistical power to identify the genetic determinants of schizophrenia.” Scott told Wikinews that “If any single centre tried to undertake such a study, it would require millions of pounds. Since it was a collection of data from across the world the costs were spread. In this era of financial difficulty it will become increasingly difficult to secure funding for this type of project even though the pay-offs will be significant.”
A cloth embroidered by a schizophrenia sufferer. The condition causes disorganised thoughts. Image: cometstarmoon.
Gejman expressed similar sentiment. “The research budget is not growing, which makes [funding] difficult,” he said, though he felt the cost “is not prohibitive because of the benefits.” “I think that it was money well invested” and “very well spent for the future,” he said, adding that organisations in Europe and the US were aware of the importance of such research.
Gejman also agreed on reliability – the study is “Very reliable because of the sample size; that should provide robust results… [we] have worked with a much larger sample than before.” Scott told us it was “a highly reliable study” that has the potential to lead to new treatments “in the long run”.
Another point was the two genetic loci identified as common to both – how much support do they lend to the notion the diseases are linked? “Until more information is available it is really only suggestive,” says Scott. “Strong enough to say there may be potentially a common pathway that bifurcates to give rise to two diseases.”
The provision of specialist services for bipolar is very limited in the UK and the demand for our services is unprecedented.
“It is an excellent demonstration,” said Gejman “because you have the same chains that are common to both disorders, in fact not just the same chains but also the same alleles.” He stressed uncertainty in how strong the relationship was, however.
Scott said examining how the variation of genetic factors may translate into varied symptoms being expressed “certainly is a good target for future research”; “It is not known how many genetic factors contribute to either of these diseases but it is likely that not all are necessary to trigger disease.” “New questions will always arise from any major study,” he told our reporter. “Certainly, new questions about bipolar and schizophrenia are now able to be formulated on the basis of the results presented in the two reports.”
These weren’t the only studies to look at the two diseases together in September. The British Medical Journal carried research by a team from the University of Oxford and King’s College London that examined mortality rates in England for schizophrenia and bipolar sufferers. They found both groups continued to suffer higher mortality rates than the general population – whilst these included suicides, three quarters of deaths were down to ailments such a s heart conditions. General death rates dropped from 1999 to 2006, but sufferers below 65 saw their death rate remain stable – and the over-65 saw theirs increase.
“By 2006, the excess risk in these groups had risk to twice the rate of the general population, whereas prior to that it had only been 1.6 times the risk, so it increased by almost 40%,” said Dr Uy Hoang of Oxford. The study looked at every discharged inpatient with a diagnosis of either condition in England in the relevant time.
Hoang said at the time of the research’s release that doctors should devote attention to predicting and preventing physical illness associated with mental disorders. His study comes at a time when the UK has launched a “no health without mental health” strategy which does attempt to screen for physical illnesses coinciding with mental illnesses. The government aims to reduce the death rate of those with mental disorders.
Rodney Scott described this research result to Wikinews as “Possibly” connected to genetic association with other hereditary ailments, such as cardiovascular disease; he told us another possibility is that “The continued raised mortality rates may be associated with the diseases themselves.”
“We believe the NHS [National Health Service] and Department of Health need to do more to support research and service development for people with bipolar disorder,” Wikinews was told by Suzanne Hudson, Chief Executive of London-based British charity MDF The Bipolar Organisation. “The provision of specialist services for bipolar is very limited in the UK and the demand for our services is unprecedented.”
“A genetic test for bipolar would be a useful tool but the science and ethics are very complex,” Hudson told us, referring to the Nature Genetics genetic study. “Just because someone has ‘bipolar genes’ does not mean they might go on to develop it. Family studies of bipolar show that this is a likely outcome of genetics research in this area. Even if it were possible to accurately predict bipolar in this way, questions about how you treat that person are difficult. For example do you start medication that is not necessary at that point in time?”
“Current treatment is not satisfactory” because it does not always work and has “side effects,” Gejman told us. Robert Whitaker, a US medical journalist and book author, told an audience in New Zealand at the end of August that evidence suggests antidepressant drugs may make children and teenagers worse – “You see many become worse and end up with a more severe diagnosis, like bipolar illness,” and the suicide risk may increase.
Whitaker blames commercial interests. “The adult market appeared saturated, and so they began eying children and teenagers. Prior to this, few children and youth were seen as suffering from major depression, and so few were prescribed anti-depressants.”
One possible alternative, raised by a connection between depressive illness and inflammation, is aspirin and similar compounds. “The link between inflammation and mood disorders has been known for sometime and the use of aspirin and other drugs in depression is now becoming more common in the literature,” Hudson says. “Any new treatments for bipolar, which is a very complex and co-morbid illness, has to be a good thing.”
Professor Dr. Michael Berk, chairman of psychiatry at Australia’s Deakin University, recently gave a talk to just this effect. Speaking at this year’s Congress of the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology, held this past month, he also highlighted statins as a treatment. Recognising the link to physical ailments, he told an interviewer “The brain does not exist in isolation, and we need to understand that pathways similar to those that underpin risks for cardiovascular disorders, stroke, and osteoporosis might also underpin the risk for psychiatric disorders, and that other treatments might be helpful.”
Aspirin may be used to treat bipolar disorder in the future. Image: Ragesoss.
Berk also touched upon speed of diagnosis and treatment; “Early interventions can potentially improve the outcome” of bipolar sufferers, he told his audience. MDF The Bipolar Organisation claim an average of ten years is possible before a person is diagnosed. “This clearly is an issue, if we believe that earlier diagnosis and treatment facilitate better outcomes,” Berk told Wikinews. Though he questions the effectiveness of currently-used drugs on advanced bipolar cases, he does not go so far as to say drugs are actively harmful. He told us “it appears that our best treatments work best earlier in the illness course; and that seems to apply to psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy.”
Berk has already performed research using statins which suggests they can form a treatment. He now seeks funding for research involving aspirin. On funding, he tells Wikinews “psychiatric disorders comprise between 16% and 22% of the burden of disability (depending on who measures it), attracts[sic] just over 6% of the clinical budget at least in Australia and 3% of the research budget. Research as a discretionary spending item is at great risk.”
Berk’s research, in the past, has been funded by companies including GlaxoSmithKline. Hudson told Wikinews this did not concern her charity; in fact, they welcomed it. “We believe it is important pharmaceutical companies continue to invest in the development of new medications for bipolar. This is how it works in all other health specialities and mental health should be no different.”
“There is a need for greater education for mental health professionals and GPs [general practitioners] about bipolar [in the UK],” she told us. “As the national bipolar charity we receive many, many calls and requests from GPs and other health professionals for our leaflets and information sheets which is fantastic. We very much welcome opportunities to work together for the benefit of individuals affected by bipolar.”
Wikinews contacted the UK’s National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) to discuss issues raised in this article, including future treatments, genetic screening, and mortality rates. NICE did not respond.
Might statins and/or aspirin improve treatment – might they be cheaper, perhaps, or safer? “This is an area of research promise,” says Berk, “however it is too early to make any clinical treatment claims; [all] we can say is that this needs to be studied in properly designed trials capable of giving a more definitive answer.” And what of possible explanations for the increased mortality rate observed in England? Should researchers look at whether bipolar influences more than just the brain, or if it is linked to other genetic conditions?
“For sure,” he told us. “There is new evidence that similar pathways contribute to the risk for both medical and psychiatric illness, both in terms of lifestyle factors, and biomarkers of risk.”
MDF The Bipolar Organisation provide support to those with bipolar and their friends and family: 020 7931 6480
US Marine arrested at Logan International Airport for possessing bomb making material
Inside his checked-in luggage, authorities found a semi-automatic handgun, a loaded magazine with extra ammunition, a hand grenade fuse assembly, bomb-making materials which included military fuses, electronic boxes and switches, and model rocket engines. The TSA says that passengers are allowed to have a firearm in their checked baggage, so long as it is declared at the gate before checking it in, which Reed failed to do.
Reed was arrested for possession of an infernal machine and possession of a concealed weapon in a secure area of an airport, says the Boston Globe. He is being held on US$50,000 bail and will be in court on Tuesday. It is not yet known why Reed was in possession of the items and an investigation is ongoing.
Reed is stationed at Camp Lejeune, located in N.C..
Ontario Votes 2007: Interview with Family Coalition Party candidate Suzanne Fortin, Nepean-Carleton
Suzanne Fortin is running for the Family Coalition Party in the Ontario provincial election, in the Nepean-Carleton riding. Wikinews’ Nick Moreau interviewed her regarding her values, her experience, and her campaign.
Stay tuned for further interviews; every candidate from every party is eligible, and will be contacted. Expect interviews from Liberals, Progressive Conservatives, New Democratic Party members, Ontario Greens, as well as members from the Family Coalition, Freedom, Communist, Libertarian, and Confederation of Regions parties, as well as independents.
Turing test beaten by Russian chatterbot
