Sam White, an undergrad in my group, created the turk-powered bartender that you see below. The gist is that it's a machine that makes rum and Cokes, and Mechanical Turk workers get to decide how strong you'd like your drink. It's really well done (especially for a weekend project) and I'm sure it's a great conversation starter at parties. It also brings some of the unaddressed issues with human computation into the fore.
For instance: What happens if turkers serve drinks that are a bit too strong - are they culpable for bad things that happen? Do turk bartenders need to be licensed? If so, where -- does or should a turker in India serving real-world drinks need to comply with liquor laws in New York State? Do workers understand that the abstract notion of choosing an alcohol level has real-world impact -- aka, they are *really* mixing a drink that someone will consume? If they knew it was real, would they behave the same way?
I don't have answers to these questions, but asking them is becoming increasingly important as the crowd makes it into our everyday lives. In the meantime, please don't let turkers mix your drinks :)
