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Science and technology
科学技术
Intelligence testing
智力测试
Who are you calling bird-brained?
叫谁是笨蛋呢？
An attempt is being made to devise a universal intelligence test
人类正尝试设计一种通用的智力测验
WHAT is the IQ of a chimpanzee? Or a worm? Or a game-show-winning computer program? Or even an alien from the planet Zaarg who can learn any human language in a day, can beat grandmasters ten at a time and can instantly factor the products of large prime numbers?
黑猩猩、蠕虫或用于智力竞赛的计算机程序，甚至是来自Zaarg星球的外星人外星人能在一天内学会任何一门人类语言，每次都能赢棋类大师10分，能立即分解出大质数的因子，它们的智商是多少呢？
At the moment it is impossible to say.
当问到这类问题，没有人能回答出来。
IQ tests depend on language, and even Watson, a computer program that beat two human contestants in a special edition of “Jeopardy!”on February 16th, does not have a perfect command of English.
IQ测试依赖于语言，而且就算是Watson系统对英语也不是了如指掌2月16日，Watson系统在美国智力竞赛"Jeopardy!"的特别节目中击败了两名人类对手。
In any case there is, at the moment, no meaningful scale on which non-human intelligence can be compared with the human sort.
但不管怎么样，现在还没有一个有意义的标尺能用于任何非人类和人类智商的比较。
The most famous test for artificial intelligence is that devised by Alan Turing, a British computing pioneer.
最著名的人工智力测试是由英国计算科学先驱阿兰图灵设计的。
To pass the Turing test, and thus be considered intelligent, a program must fool a human being into believing that it is another human being.
为了通过图灵测试，机器中的程序必须使对方误以为它也是一个人类，
But the Turing test still requires the program to share a language with the tester and, because it is all or nothing, cannot be used to rank different forms of artificial intelligence against one another.
且如果机器通过了测试，该机器就被认为是人工智能。但图灵测试仍要求程序和测试者使用相同的语言。并且由于测试的结果是“是”或者“否”，因此不能用于不同形式人工智能间的评级。
José Hernández-Orallo of the Polytechnic University of Valencia, in Spain, and David Dowe of Monash University, in Australia, think they can do better than this.
来自西班牙瓦伦西亚理工大学的José Hernández-Orallo和澳大利亚莫纳什大学的David Dowe认为他们能设计出比图灵更完善的测试。
They believe not only that a universal scale of intelligence can be devised, but also that it can be assessed without reference to language.
他们相信不仅能设计出可通用的智商标尺，而且测试可以与语言无关。
If they are right, an insult like “bird-brained” will, in the future, be finely calibrated.
如果真能如他们所说，那么将来就可以精确计算出“愚蠢”的程度了。
Dr Hernández-Orallo and Dr Dowe, both computer scientists, propose to make their measurement by borrowing a concept called Kolmogorov complexity from information theory, a branch of computer science. The Kolmogorov complexity of a computer's output is the shortest possible program that could produce that output.
Hernández-Orallo博士和Dr Dowe博士都是计算机科学家，他们提出：借用信息论中的Kolmogorov复杂度概念来实现测量。计算机输出的Kolmogorov复杂度是指能产生该输出的可能最短程序基于计算机代码的二进制位数。
On this measure, an entity's intelligence would be measured by the Kolmogorov complexity of the most complex tests it can solve—a clear, numerical value.
在这种设计下，可以通过最复杂测试的Kolmogorov复杂度来测量一个实体的智商。
In practice, calculating the true Kolmogorov complexity of a system is almost impossible. But an approximation can be made. And that, the researchers reckon, will be good enough.
实际上，要正确计算出系统的Kolmogorov复杂度几乎是不可能的。但可以计算出它的近似值。而对研究人员的估算工作而言，近似值也就足够了。
The actual tests would employ the well-honed methods of operant conditioning, developed initially on pigeons, in which the test subject has first to work out what is going on by trial and error.
实际的测试会采用精确的操作性条件反射方法，测试对象首先要清楚实验的过程和错误。
As in operant conditioning, correct responses would be ewarded—by money, perhaps, for a human being; by bananas for a chimpanzee or by the numerical value itself for an appropriately programmed computer.
在操作性条件反射中，正确的反射响应将得到奖励—对人而言可能是金钱，对黑猩猩而言是香蕉，对可编程计算机而言则可能是数值本身。
If the test were noughts and crosses, the test-taker would first have to work out that the game is won by getting three in a row on a 3-by-3 grid, before actually going on to play.
如果测验是画圈叉游戏，则在进行游戏之前测试参与者首要要弄懂在3X3的网格中，3个格连成一行就赢得游戏了。
A chimpanzee might not manage a test of this level of complexity, but could, maybe, work out the idea of three-in-a-row when only a single row was involved. Chess, though, would surely be beyond it.
黑猩猩可能没办法理解这种复杂度等级的测验，但当只有一行时，它们也许就可以明白"3格-1行"的概念了。
Games like draughts and dominoes would lie somewhere in between.
而象棋的难易度远超过黑猩猩的理解程度。西洋跳棋和多米诺骨牌这类游戏的难易程度则介于圈叉和象棋之间。
In fact Dr Hernández-Orallo and Dr Dowe do not plan to use existing games. Instead they are employing a computer to enerate novel games and patterns.
实际上，Hernández-Orallo博士和Dowe博士计划采用计算机产生的新游戏和新花样来代替已有的游戏。
Their approach eliminates human bias.
他们的方法消除了人类的偏见，
It also allows them to generate tests with any level of complexity they like—even ones that are far beyond the ability of humans to complete.
同时也允许产生任何复杂度等级的测验—甚至可以是远超过人类能力的。
When it comes to testing the tests, then, aliens from the planet Zaarg will be particularly welcome to apply.
当可以进行测试时，特别欢迎来自Zaarg星球的外星人。
