Alan Turing thought that if a human could not tell the difference between another human and the computer, then the computer had shown intelligent behaviour.
A person has a telegraph, and is connected to two communication partners. One of the two correspondents is a machine. The person can ask anything with the telegraph. If the person cannot tell which of the two is the machine more than 50% of the time, then the machine is said to be "intelligent".
Later on, people narrowed down the test. A human is unlikely to know everything. Therefore, both the human and the machine would be specialists in some field of knowledge. So would the person asking.
The comic strip Dilbert makes several mentions to the PHB (Pointy Haired Boss) failing the Turing test.
Fuel
A fuel is a substance that is changed in some way to produce heat, electricity, or other forms of energy. This is usually by being burnt, although there are exceptions, such as nuclear fuel. Fuel can be divided into two main types: fossil fuels and other fuels.
There are several kinds of fossil fuels:
Some people do not want us to use fossil fuels because they may pollute the environment. Because all fossil fuels are made out of carbon, burning them makes carbon dioxide. Some people think that too much carbon dioxide in the air may cause a greenhouse effect. Fossil fuels are also non-renewable, or renew extremely slowly (thousands of years). This means that we will eventually run out of fossil fuels.
Other fuels are not made from fossils. Some of these, like nuclear and hydrogen, do not have carbon in them. Others, like wood or ethanol, do have carbon in them. Some examples of these fuels are:
These fuels are renewable. This means that we can make more of them if we run out. For instance, if we run out of ethanol, we can grow some more corn and make some more ethanol.
List of volcanoes
The list of volcanoes includes some which are active, dormant and extinct:
Estonia
Estonia (), officially the Republic of Estonia () is a small country in the Baltic Region of Northern Europe. The capital city is Tallinn. Estonia's neighbors are Sweden, Finland, Russia and Latvia. Its population is 1,332,893.
The territory of Estonia has the mainland and 2,222 islands in the Baltic Sea.
People have lived in Estonia since at least 9,000 BC. The oldest known settlement in Estonia is the Pulli settlement, which was on the banks of the Pärnu River.
Estonia became independent from Russia in 1920 after a brief War of Independence at the end of World War I. During World War II (1939–1945), Estonia was occupied by the Soviet Union and Germany. It then became the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic and lost its independence.
Estonia had its independence restored in 1991. It became a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) on 29 March 2004. It joined the European Union on 1 May 2004.
In January 2021, Estonia became the only country in the world led by women by having a female president (Kersti Kaljulaid) and female prime minister (Kaja Kallas).
Estonia is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland with Finland on the other side, to the west by the Baltic Sea with Sweden on the other side, to the south by Latvia (343 km), and to the east by Lake Peipus and Russia (338.6 km).
Average elevation reaches only . The country's highest point is the Suur Munamägi in the southeast at .
Estonia has many forests, almost 50% of the land is covered with forests. The most common tree species are pine, spruce and birch. Estonia has over 1,400 lakes and over 2,000 islands. The longest rivers are Võhandu (), Pärnu (), and Põltsamaa ().
Mammals in Estonia include the grey wolf, lynx, brown bear, red fox, badger, wild boar, moose, red deer, roe deer, beaver, otter, grey seal, and ringed seal. The critically endangered European mink has been successfully reintroduced to the island of Hiiumaa. The rare Siberian flying squirrel is present in east Estonia.
Over 300 bird species have been found in Estonia. These include the white-tailed eagle, lesser spotted eagle, golden eagle, western capercaillie, black and white stork, many species of owls, waders, geese and many others. The Barn swallow is the national bird of Estonia.
Protected areas cover 18% of Estonian land and 26% of its sea territory. There are 5 national parks, 159 nature reserves, and many other protection areas.
The Riigikogu is the name of the parliament in Estonia.
Since administrative reform in 2017, there are in total 79 local governments. This includes 15 towns and 64 rural municipalities. All municipalities have equal legal status and form part of a county, which is a state administrative unit.
The counties are:
According to speedtest.net, Estonia has one of the fastest Internet download speeds in the world with an average download speed of 27.12 Mbit/s.
Estonia won the Eurovision Song Contest in 2001 with the song "Everybody" performed by Tanel Padar and Dave Benton. In 2002, Estonia hosted the event.
The Estonian National Day is the Independence Day celebrated on 24 February. This is the day the Estonian Declaration of Independence was issued. , there are 12 public holidays and 12 national holidays celebrated each year.
The following are links to international rankings of Estonia.
Republic of Cyprus
The Republic of Cyprus is a island country in the Mediterranean Sea and member state of the European Union. Cyprus is in Asia, but it is often associated with Europe because of the culture and history of the people. It is also closer to Africa than to Europe. The capital is Nicosia. Most of the population speaks Greek and Turkish.
Cyprus is a popular tourist destination in Europe. In 2019, 4 million tourists visited the country. It is estimated, that Cyprus earned 2.7 million euros in that year. Tourism is very important to the country, as tourism made up 23% of its economy in 2020.
Mycenaeans of Ancient Greece were the first inhabitants of the island. Archaeological evidence shows that Greek settlement began in c. 1400 BC. It represents the first advanced and distinctively Greek civilization in mainland Greece with its palatial states, urban organization, works of art, and writing system. Cyprus is the only place outside England where an English royal wedding took place. That was the wedding of Richard I and Berengaria of Navarre on 12 May 1191.
Cyprus gained independence from the British Empire in 1960. The UK, Turkey and Greece became guarantor powers of the island.
In July 1974, Turkey invaded Cyprus. Since then the northern part of the island has been under Turkish occupation. The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus became de facto independent in 1983 but it is recognised only by Turkey. When entering by aeroplane, a short stop is made at an airport in mainland Turkey.
The present situation with the island split came about because Cyprus, historically Greek, was conquered and became part of the Ottoman Empire from 15701914. The British administered it from 1878 until 1960. Likewise, Greece had been part of the Ottoman Empire for several centuries. Negotiations for a unified island have been held several times without success.
In 2004, Cyprus joined the European Union. On 1 January 2008 Cyprus adopted the Euro, the single European currency. Although the official currency of Northern Cyprus is the Turkish Lira, many shops accept Euros and British pounds.
Cyprus is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after the Italian islands of Sicily and Sardinia.
There are two mountain ranges, the Troodos Mountains and the smaller Kyrenia Range. The Pedieos River is the longest on the island. The highest point on Cyprus is Mount Olympus at .
The Republic of Cyprus is only on the southern two-thirds of the island (59.74%). The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus is the northern third (34.85%) and rest are Akrotiri and Dhekelia owned by the British.