PhilosophersAlan Turing
Alan Turing
A mathematician who proposes replacing the question 'Can a machine think?' with an imitation game.
Analytic philosophy1912 · 1954 United KingdomLondon
Life
Alan Turing (1912-1954) was a British mathematician and a founder of theoretical computer science. In 1936 he defined the abstract machine that bears his name, and during the Second World War he worked on breaking German codes at Bletchley Park. In his 1950 paper he replaced the question 'Can a machine think?' with an imitation game, now called the Turing test, and answered the objections to it.
Main works
1936
On Computable Numbers, with an Application to the Entscheidungsproblem
He defines the universal machine and shows that some problems cannot be solved by any mechanical calculation.
1950
Computing Machinery and Intelligence
He proposes the imitation game as a way to judge whether a machine thinks and answers nine objections.
In his own words
« I propose to consider the question, 'Can machines think?' »
« We may hope that machines will eventually compete with men in all purely intellectual fields. »
« We can only see a short distance ahead, but we can see plenty there that needs to be done. »