Alan Turing

A man provided with paper, pencil, and rubber, and subject to strict discipline, is in effect a universal machine.

May not machines carry out something which ought to be described as thinking but which is very different from what a man does?

May not machines carry out something which ought to be described as thinking but which is very different from what a man does?

If it is accepted that real brains, as found in animals, and in particular in men, are a sort of machine it will follow that our digital computer suitably programmed, will behave like a brain...

If it is accepted that real brains, as found in animals, and in particular in men, are a sort of machine it will follow that our digital computer suitably programmed, will behave like a brain...

If a machine can think, it might think more intelligently than we do, and then where should we be?

If a machine can think, it might think more intelligently than we do, and then where should we be?

Up to a point, it is better to just let the snags [bugs] be there than to spend such time in design that there are none.

Up to a point, it is better to just let the snags [bugs] be there than to spend such time in design that there are none.

I believe that at the end of the century the use of words and general educated opinion will have altered so much that one will be able to speak of machines thinking without expecting to be contradicted.

The isolated man does not develop any intellectual power. It is necessary for him to be immersed in an environment of other men, whose techniques he absorbs during the first twenty years of his life.

The isolated man does not develop any intellectual power. It is necessary for him to be immersed in an environment of other men, whose techniques he absorbs during the first twenty years of his life.

A smallish proportion are supercritical. An idea presented to such a mind may give rise to a whole 'theory' consisting of secondary, tertiary and more remote ideas. Animals' minds seem to be very definitely sub-critical.

A smallish proportion are supercritical. An idea presented to such a mind may give rise to a whole 'theory' consisting of secondary, tertiary and more remote ideas. Animals' minds seem to be very definitely sub-critical.

The popular view that scientists proceed inexorably from well-established fact to well-established fact, never being influenced by any unproved conjecture, is quite mistaken. Provided it is made clear which are proved facts and which are conjectures, no harm can result. Conjectures are of great importance since they suggest useful lines of research.

The popular view that scientists proceed inexorably from well-established fact to well-established fact, never being influenced by any unproved conjecture, is quite mistaken. Provided it is made clear which are proved facts and which are conjectures, no harm can result. Conjectures are of great importance since they suggest useful lines of research.

I'm afraid that the following syllogism may be used by some in the future. Turing believes machines think. Turing lies with men. Therefore machines do not think. Yours in distress, Alan.

I'm afraid that the following syllogism may be used by some in the future. Turing believes machines think. Turing lies with men. Therefore machines do not think. Yours in distress, Alan.

It is not possible to produce a set of rules purporting to describe what a man should do in every conceivable set of circumstances.

It is not possible to produce a set of rules purporting to describe what a man should do in every conceivable set of circumstances.