Turing

Alan Mathison Turing (1912-1954) posited that asking if a machine can "think" is meaningless. The question should be about what a machine is capable of doing. The "Turing Test" refers to a set of qualifications set about a machine's behavior -- for each one it passes, it effectively is that much more of a sentient being.

The original Turing Test was conceived as a human on one side of a wall and an unseen test subject on the other. If the test subject could convince the human it could "think", then it passed -- regardless of whether the test subject was human, animal, or machine. In this enlightened age, the modern Turing Test consists of a battery of questions, tests, and philosophical conundrums; the more the test subject can answer "correctly", the more sentient it is declared to be. By this method, test subjects have a "Turing score" from 0% (utterly unaware) to 100% (none who encounter this subject will dispute that it is sentient). Most sentients fall within the 60%-80% range.

The Turing Test is the subject of much philosophical debate. Some factions argue that any being scoring 50% or more on a Turing Test cannot be enslaved and thus must be free, an inalienable right by its creation.

Half-Turing

A being that passes 50% of the Turing Test. (In theory, at least 50% of other sentients who interacted with this being would believe it to be sentient). A half-Turing is, by many societies' reckonings, a free-willed, fully cognitive individual.

Commentary

[The Turing Test]: humorous movie of digital actors attempting to pass.