| Loebner prize money shouldn't be spent on useful spin-offs TegenArgument1 #311 Whether the Loebner prize money should be spent on generating useful spin-offs is dubious. The money is best spent towards advancing artificial intelligence. |
The Shieber Argument
"[Loebner] says he believes the competition might have valuable unexpected spinoffs. Whether this use of funds would be more apt to generate useful spinoffs than some other use (which is the crucial issue) seems highly dubious. Again, the history of the competition itself tells the story" (Shieber, 1994, p. 83).
In a footnote, Shieber adds,
"For the record, by the way, Loebner could have chosen a better example in this vein than the story about Mozart's fundament. The great composer's discomfort did not owe to the world's inadequate understanding of stress and strain, but his decision to travel by hard-seat mail coach, rather than by a more expensive class of transportation. Within a few miles of setting out for Vienna, he 'upgraded'" (Shieber, 1994, p. 83).
Source: Shieber, Stuart (1994). "On Loebner's Lessons." Communications of the ACM, 37:6. |