Post-Turing Methodology: Breaking the Wall on the Way to Artificial General Intelligence

This article offers comprehensive criticism of the Turing test and develops quality criteria for new artificial general intelligence (AGI) assessment tests. It is shown that the prerequisites A. Turing drew upon when reducing personality and human consciousness to “suitable branches of thought” re-flected the engineering level of his time. In fact, the Turing “imitation game” employed only symbolic communication and ignored the physical world. This paper suggests that by restricting thinking ability to symbolic systems alone Turing unknowingly constructed “the wall” that excludes any possi-bility of transition from a complex observable phenomenon to an abstract image or concept. It is, therefore, sensible to factor in new requirements for AI (artificial intelligence) maturity assessment when approaching the Tu-ring test. Such AI must support all forms of communication with a human being, and it should be able to comprehend abstract images and specify con-cepts as well as participate in social practices

Robotic theatre: comparative analysis of human and mechanized activities in the creative process

The article systematizes and analyzes the existing experience of organizing the creative process in a robotic theater. The author explores the robotic theater phenomenon, the artificial intelligence technology possibilities to function in the stage space. The article provides a comparative analysis of human and mechanized interaction in the stage space. The methodological basis of the research is a combination of several methods: analytical – for accounting for historical and fictional literature; theoretical and conceptual method – for analyzing the conceptual and terminological system of research and identifying the specifics of introducing the artificial intelligence technology in creative process; comparative-typological – to compare the peculiarities of the functioning of mechanized “actors” with the acting skills of human performers. The article explores the threat perception and uncanny valley concepts to study the perception of a robot–actor by an audience. The author examines the process of human interaction with a robotic body: from the moment of interest, interaction to the moment of rejection of the robot by a person (audience)

A critical assessment of the animator's artistic ownership over motion captured performances

The intention of this research report is to critically assess, as well as theoretically expand upon, the increasingly contentious area regarding character performance in computer generated (CG) animation for feature films that utilize motion capture technology. This paper specifically aims to investigate whether or not the use of motion capture in live-action visual effects, in the pursuit of creating CG characters that are as realistic as possible, has eroded the artistic autonomy of character animators and their artistic ownership of the performances of these characters. Through the analysis and comparison of pertinent case studies, it should become apparent that this perception is not absolute, and is largely dependent on the kinds of characters intended to be portrayed and the kind of film that they are to be portrayed in. It will be shown that motion capture can be a very effective collaborative tool not only in the relationship between directors and actors, but also between animators and actors under the creative supervision of directors

A Novel Reinforcement-Based Paradigm for Children to Teach the Humanoid Kaspar Robot

© The Author(s) 2019. This is the final published version of an article published in Psychological Research, licensed under a Creative Commons Attri-bution 4.0 International License. Available online at: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12369-019-00607-xThis paper presents a contribution to the active field of robotics research with the aim of supporting the development of social and collaborative skills of children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). We present a novel experiment where the classical roles are reversed: in this scenario the children are the teachers providing positive or negative reinforcement to the Kaspar robot in order for the robot to learn arbitrary associations between different toy names and the locations where they are positioned. The objective of this work is to develop games which help children with ASD develop collaborative skills and also provide them tangible example to understand that sometimes learning requires several repetitions. To facilitate this game we developed a reinforcement learning algorithm enabling Kaspar to verbally convey its level of uncertainty during the learning process, so as to better inform the children interacting with Kaspar the reasons behind the successes and failures made by the robot. Overall, 30 Typically Developing (TD) children aged between 7 and 8 (19 girls, 11 boys) and 6 children with ASD performed 22 sessions (16 for TD; 6 for ASD) of the experiment in groups, and managed to teach Kaspar all associations in 2 to 7 trials. During the course of study Kaspar only made rare unexpected associations (2 perseverative errors and 1 win-shift, within a total of 272 trials), primarily due to exploratory choices, and eventually reached minimal uncertainty. Thus the robot's behavior was clear and consistent for the children, who all expressed enthusiasm in the experiment.Peer reviewe

Werewolf Identity in Cormac McCarthy’s Child of God

Lester Ballard’s character in Child of God is one example of a socially marginalized outcast who figures prominently in Southern Gothic literature. Furthermore, he is ostracized from a homogenous community and propagates terror in its outskirts. Ballard’s disturbingly quotidian life allows for a werewolf motif to emerge, echoing the werewolf mythos of ancient Greek and Medieval tales. Placing Ballard’s violent delights within the context of werewolf studies illuminates a series of questions concerning identity, existentialism, and alterity in a text devoid of the supernatural. This thesis contends that the text’s lycanthropic links manifest not through traditional werewolf conventions but as an effect of revestimiento near the climax of the plot, allowing Ballard to assume (an)other body. Deconstructionist and existentialist approaches towards the text make Lester Ballard’s werewolf subjectivity a unique ground for discussing the broader issues of identity, monstrosity, and alterity in the context of monster studies