I read an interesting take on the Turing Test recently where (I wish I could remember who) observed that Alan Turing wasn't so much arguing that machine intelligence was possible, but that machine intelligence that imitates human intelligence was good enough as to make the discussion meaningless. It was suggested that Alan Turing was metaphorically discussing homosexuality - and that if he could pass for straight, did it matter that he was gay? Seen in that context, the imitative nature of "intelligence" shifts the discussion a bit...
I'm not sure about the gay/straight metaphor, but as I understand it, you are spot-on about the Turing Test; it's simply a thought experiment.
I agree with this article in general, and I believe it's highly probable that we'll have human-equivalent imitation thinking, probably sometime soon, but it won't be true thinking, and we won't learn much from doing it. It's just ELIZA plus plus. I hope (and fear) that I might be wrong.
Heinlein's Jerry Was A Man is an excellent short story on the topic of intelligence and rights. I hadn't heard that. That is interesting.machine intelligence that imitates human intelligence was good enough as to make the discussion meaningless
It was suggested that Alan Turing was metaphorically discussing homosexuality