Published 13 April 2016

A Turing test for prosthetic limbs

From Eric Salter

I am constantly amazed by the most recent developments in prostheses: Helen Thomson now reports a bionic finger that can feel textures (12 March, p 12). I propose that the ultimate test for a prosthetic hand would be for the user to try to find a particular object in their pocket – the prosthetic would need to deliver enough information to discern coins, keys, lighters and paper notes. As in a Turing test, the device passes if its performance is indistinguishable from that of its biological equivalent. I suspect that mechanical prosthetics are still nowhere near this.

Given that biological tissues currently offer the pinnacle of sensory perception, perhaps we could attempt to develop biological prosthetics. Could this help prevent rejection, and could it help deal with the loss of connectivity that plagues the junction of hardware prosthetics with biology?

Footscray, Victoria, Australia