1- Is the Turing test a valid test of intelligence? Why or why not?

I don't think it is because it seems to me that the Turing test is really testing the response a computer would have rather than its intelligence. Of course its easy to tell the response of a computer because it is so technical while a human is more relaxed and prone to error. Computers can retrieve facts better than humans. It's testing the ability of a computer to be a human not its intelligence.

2- List several mental task that people do better than computers. List several mental tasks that computers do better than people. Can you find any general characteristics that distinguish the items on the two lists?

People Computer
- translating - processing
- planning -math
-searching
- synthesizing

General characteristics that distinguish the two are technical, and natural.