Disclaimer: I’m doing this installation on Leopard (OS X 10.5) with Python 2.6.*. I assume the same procedure applies to later versions of OS X (yes, I’m a late adopter) and the Python 2 series.

So there are many ways to go about it, but this is the simplest one I found. It’s completely based on binary .dmg files:

Step 1: Download and install the latest “Python 2.6.* Mac OS X Installer Disk image” from the official python.org download pages.

This gives you an up-to-date python installation that doesn’t interfere with the system’s one.
To test, type

python --version

on the command line, and the version of Python you just installed should be reported.

Step 2: Download and install the latest Numerical Python .dmg binary for OS X and Python 2.6 from NumPy’s sourceforge download page.

To test, start a python interpreter and try this:

>>> import numpy
>>> numpy.__version__


Step 3: Download and install the latest matplotlib .dmg binary for OS X and Python 2.6 from matplotlib’s sourceforge download page.

To test, start a python interpreter and try this:

>>> import matplotlib
>>> matplotlib.__version__


Et voilá, this should do the trick.

Extra tip: If you use the shebang:

#!/usr/bin/env python

instead of:

#!/usr/bin/python

the version of python you want will be automatically used when you run your script from the command line.

Still I like to think about the Turing test, because it makes us question what we mean by intelligence. So I think of possible interesting modifications to the test. One thing I think about is simplifying the interface, so that human beings have less of an advantage. I imagine this interface where the only thing you see is a light that can be on or off. You have a button that activates the light of your interlocutor. The One Bit Turing Test. And we can make the light look like HAL 9000 for extra effect.

As it turns out, I found out after a bit of googling that the idea is not that original. User jutta at Halfbakery proposes a similar test, where you still have a text interface but you are only allowed to use 0s and 1s. I still like my version better, because of its temporal aspect. You can tap rhythms with the lights. You can try to be playful or annoying. You can try to see if you can get the entity on the other side to be bored or if you can get it to understand and start a game. In short, you would be looking for features that are likely universal to high level intelligences, instead of specific to us, the ultra-evolved apes.

Sure, it would still be possible to leak some broad human knowledge into the system. You could try to start tapping well known rhythms and see if the other side can complete them. But that seems way, way easier to achieve than to emulate all the knowledge, cultural context and emotional responses associated with natural languages.

How easy would it be to pass the one bit Turing test? What would you come up with to test for humanness on the other side?