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Posted By: davidcycleback

It's probably like when your bank or eBay asks you to type in those strange letters or numbers in a picture. Those pics of weird words is to prevent robo computers from signing up accounts. This demonstrates one way that a humans is superior to computers. A human can perceive letters and numbers in those warped, often interupted figures, while a computer can't.

An elementary example is if you take the letter 'G' and cut it in half so there is a small space between the two halves. A human still perceives it as the letter G, but a computer doesn't. The computer defines G as a single object, so two objects isn't recognized as the letter. In this case, the computer is literally correct and the human literally incorrect, and the human is using its imagination. When eBay asks the user to translate the figures and designs loosely resembling letters and numbers, it is determining if the user has a human imagination, something a computer doesn't have. A computer is like someone who's very smart, but takes everything literally. It can do your accounting but won't get your jokes.