Summarize the main points in the reading passage, and then explain how the lecture casts doubts on the ideas in the reading.

"Do computers have the ability to think?" - This is the question put forward by Alan Turing and he indeed develop a test to arrive at whether anybody could pass this test. The writer elaborates about the test and the challenges it has put forward to the society. But the Professor in the lecture, summarily rejects the ultimate notion of Turing test and claims that the test has no proper base.

The writer describes the way in which Turing test is carried out. A group of people are allowed to interact with a terminal in the other room which can either operator on a terminal, or a person replying through the terminal. Both visual display of text and audio response with reply through microphones and synthesizers were used in the test. The group of people sitting in the other room have to judge correctly whether the reply is coming from a person or a computer. For a long time since 1950, this test was carried out multiple times. And each time, the computers failed to imitate humans perfectly.

Additionally, a prize worth $100,000 was announced to any person who could design a system that would pass Turing test. Unfortunately, no one broke the challenge and no computer has actually passed the test for a long time. The Professor quotes that Turing test is of no use since it tests the behavior rather than the thinking skills.

The Professor brings to notice, the 'Chinese Room' paradox put along by a person named John. In this Paradox, John quotes the example of an English person replying to a Chinese person asking questions from the other end. In this case, the English speaking person will not completely succeed in answering the questions properly. However, if this person has access to references, which would give a sequence of possible characters in reply to the asked sequence of Chinese characters, then the system would go wrong; the English person can go a step ahead and act like he knows to reply in Chinese. Thus he indeed manipulates the system and 'acts' intelligently without possessing wisdom. If this example is extended to that of a computer, then a computer which passes Turing test can obviously very easily be designed.

Though the writer describes about the Turing test and the Challenge it has posed, the Professor quotes that the test as such is not designed in a perfect manner. The test, according to the Professor, does not seem to answer to the basic question: "Can computers think?"; it has many loopholes that defeat the purpose of the test instead. Thus the Professor's lecture casts doubt on the ideas mentioned in the reading.