We can only see a short distance ahead, but we can see plenty there that needs to be done.
— Computing machinery and intelligence
Alan Turing was an English mathematician and logician widely regarded as the father of theoretical computer science. He formalised the concept of computation with the Turing machine, a model of a general-purpose computer, and his work in cryptanalysis helped the Allies of World War II decipher messages encrypted by the German Enigma machine.
He also proposed the Turing test and contributed the Turing pattern concept to theoretical biology. Born in London, he graduated from King's College, Cambridge, and earned a doctorate from Princeton University in 1938. During the war he worked at Bletchley Park, Britain's codebreaking centre, where he led Hut 8 in decrypting German naval messages. His paper "Computing machinery and intelligence" is his most quoted work in our library.
He also proposed the Turing test and contributed the Turing pattern concept to theoretical biology. Born in London, he graduated from King's College, Cambridge, and earned a doctorate from Princeton University in 1938. During the war he worked at Bletchley Park, Britain's codebreaking centre, where he led Hut 8 in decrypting German naval messages. His paper "Computing machinery and intelligence" is his most quoted work in our library.
Most quoted works
- Computing machinery and intelligence 2
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.
— Computing machinery and intelligence
I have had a dream indicating rather clearly that I am on the way to being hetero, though I don't accept it with much enthusiasm either awake or in the dreams.
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.
Science is a differential equation. Religion is a boundary condition.
I want a permanent relationship, and I might feel inclined to reject anything which of its nature could not be permanent.
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. He may then perhaps do a little research of his own and make a very few discoveries which are passed on to other men. From this point of view the search for new techniques must be regarded as carried out by the human community as a whole, rather than by individuals.