Alan Turing
Alan Turing
Alan Mathison Turing OBE FRSwas a pioneering English computer scientist, mathematician, logician, cryptanalyst and theoretical biologist. He was highly influential in the development of theoretical computer science, providing a formalisation of the concepts of algorithm and computation with the Turing machine, which can be considered a model of a general purpose computer. Turing is widely considered to be the father of theoretical computer science and artificial intelligence...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionMathematician
Date of Birth23 June 1912
CityLondon, England
The idea behind digital computers may be explained by saying that these machines are intended to carry out any operations which could be done by a human computer.
Mathematical reasoning may be regarded rather schematically as the exercise of a combination of two facilities, which we may call intuition and ingenuity. The activity of the intuition consists in making spontaneous judgements which are not the result of conscious trains of reasoning... The exercise of ingenuity in mathematics consists in aiding the intuition through suitable arrangements of propositions, and perhaps geometrical figures or drawings.
It seems probable that once the machine thinking method had started, it would not take long to outstrip our feeble powers… They would be able to converse with each other to sharpen their wits. At some stage therefore, we should have to expect the machines to take control.
We may hope that machines will eventually compete with men in all purely intellectual fields.
There is, however, one feature that I would like to suggest should be incorporated in the machines, and that is a 'random element.' Each machine should be supplied with a tape bearing a random series of figures, e.g., 0 and 1 in equal quantities, and this series of figures should be used in the choices made by the machine. This would result in the behaviour of the machine not being by any means completely determined by the experiences to which it was subjected, and would have some valuable uses when one was experimenting with it.
Codes are a puzzle. A game, just like any other game.
If a machine is expected to be infallible, it cannot also be intelligent.
No, I'm not interested in developing a powerful brain...
Programming is a skill best acquired by practice and example rather than from books.
A man provided with paper, pencil, and rubber, and subject to strict discipline, is in effect a universal machine.
A computer would deserve to be called intelligent if it could deceive a human into believing that it was human.
Mathematical reasoning may be regarded...
Do you know why people like violence? It is because it feels good. Humans find violence deeply satisfying. But remove the satisfaction, and the act becomes hollow.
Sometimes it is the people no one imagines anything of who do the things that no-one can imagine