Notable Finding: People are only dimly aware of characteracterics that distinguish humans from non-humans, which suggests that as computers continue to become more humanlike, people will more easily be fooled into thinking that computers (chatbots on the Internet, for example) are people.
Test
Recent Publications
Epstein, R., Bordyug, M., Chen, Y-H., Chen, Y., Ginther, A., Kirkish, G, & Stead, H. (2022). Toward the search for the perfect blade runner: A large-scale, international assessment of a test that screens for “humanness sensitivity.” AI & Society. DOI: 10.1007/s00146-022-01398-y (Unedited draft with a complete references list posted on SSRN on September 25, 2021 at https://ssrn.com/abstract=3930715)
Epstein, R. (2016, July/August). Are humans doomed? A review of George Zarkadakis’ In Our Own Image. Scientific American Mind, p. 68.
Epstein, R. (2016, May 18). The empty brain. Aeon.
Epstein, R. (2015, November/December). Brain wars: A review of Malcolm Gay's The Brain Electric: The Dramatic High-Tech Race to Merge Minds and Machines. Scientific American Mind, p. 70.
Epstein, R. (2014, June 11). Claims that the Turing test has been passed are nonsense [Letter]. The Guardian.
Epstein, R., Roberts, G., & Beber, G. (Eds.). (2008) Parsing the Turing Test: Methodological and philosophical issues in the quest for the thinking computer. Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Springer.
Epstein, R. (2007, October/November). From Russia, with love: How I got fooled (and somewhat humiliated) by a computer. Scientific American Mind, pp. 16-17.
Epstein, R. (2006, June/July). My date with a robot. Scientific American Mind, pp. 68-73.
Recent Presentations
Epstein, R., & Kirkish, G. (2012, November). How good are humans at distinguishing humans from computers? Paper presented at the 42nd annual meeting of the Society for Computers in Psychology, Minneapolis, MN.
2015, November/December