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Can machines think by alan turing
Mathematician alan turing essay
Mathematician alan turing essay
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Alan Turing was a pioneer in the world of computers and technology by contributing to the fields of mathematics, computer science, and artificial intelligence, along with other fields as well. He lived from June 23, 1912 until June 7, 1954. Born in London, he spent his childhood living in England as the son of a member of the Indian Civil Service. While his father was commissioned in India, he and his brother lived in numerous different English foster homes. As a child, he expressed a strong interest and passion for science. Turing studied mathematics in King’s College, University of Cambridge, and graduated in 1934. He completed his Ph.D. in mathematical logic in 1938 in Princeton University. One of the things Alan Turing is known for is his creation of the concept of the Turing Machine. His ideas were presented in a paper, written in 1936. The Turing Machine is not a physical machine; it is a hypothetical mathematical tool and model. It was an idea of a computing …show more content…
In 1950, he designed a test to determine whether or not a computer has the ability to think, later called the Turing Test. In this test, a human asks questions to two responders. One is a computer and the other is a human, but the questioner does not know the identity of each. After asking questions and listening to their responses, the questioner then has to guess which is the computer. The computer is considered to have the capacity for thought if the questioner correctly selects the computer half or less than half of the times. Because it is just as likely to be picked as the human responder, this would means the computer would have the equivalent thought capability as the human responder and can be considered intelligent. Many criticized this test, but the Turing Test was still a major landmark in the field of artificial intelligence. It is still used today as a point of controversy and argument over artificial
The Turing test was a test that allows humans to evaluate the question “can machines think?” Turing evaluates that one should not ask if machines can think, but conduct an experiment which can prove that it can think. In order to answer this question, Turing created
One of the hottest topics that modern science has been focusing on for a long time is the field of artificial intelligence, the study of intelligence in machines or, according to Minsky, “the science of making machines do things that would require intelligence if done by men”.(qtd in Copeland 1). Artificial Intelligence has a lot of applications and is used in many areas. “We often don’t notice it but AI is all around us. It is present in computer games, in the cruise control in our cars and the servers that route our email.” (BBC 1). Different goals have been set for the science of Artificial Intelligence, but according to Whitby the most mentioned idea about the goal of AI is provided by the Turing Test. This test is also called the imitation game, since it is basically a game in which a computer imitates a conversating human. In an analysis of the Turing Test I will focus on its features, its historical background and the evaluation of its validity and importance.
After losing his positions in society and being cast out of the world scene, Sir Isaac Newton developed abdominal problems. In 1727, Newton fell into a coma-like state of sleep, never to awake again. Sir Isaac Newton died on March 31, 1727. After his death, people began to realize the importance of his discoveries to science and mankind. This, in conclusion, is why he will always be remembered as the most influential scientist of all time and a great Christian man.
Turing earned a fellowship at King’s college and the following year the Smith’s Prize for his work in probability theory. Afterward, he chose a path away from pure math into mathematical logic and began to work on solving the Entscheidungsproblem, a problem in decidability. This was an attempt to prove that there was a method by which any given mathematical assertion was provable. As he began to dive in to this he worked on first defining what a method was. In doing so he began what today is called the Turing Machine. The Turing Machine is a three-fold inspiration composed of logical instructions, the action of the mind, and a machine which can in principle be embodied in a practical physical form. It is the application of an algorithm embodied in a finite state machine.
Goldstine, Herman H. "Computers at the University of Pennsylvania's Moore School." The Jayne Lecture. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, Vol 136, No.1. January 24, 1991
In order to work on cracking the code Alan’s sexuality must be hidden deep in the closet. Alan Turing’s homosexuality makes up a big part of who he is. Turing always felt uncomfortable around other men, because his old friend Christopher was the only one that filled his heart with love. From a social conflict perspective, we can see how the
If the nineteenth century was an era of the Industrial revolution in Europe, I would say that computers and Information Technology have dominated since the twentieth century. The world today is a void without computers, be it healthcare, commerce or any other field, the industry won’t thrive without Information Technology and Computer Science. This ever-growing field of technology has aroused interest in me since my childhood. After my twelfth grade, the inherent ardor I held for Computer Science motivated me to do a bachelors degree in Information Technology. Programming and Math, a paragon of logic and reasoning, have always been my favorite subjects since childhood.
Although the majority of people cannot imagine life without computers, they owe their gratitude toward an algorithm machine developed seventy to eighty years ago. Although the enormous size and primitive form of the object might appear completely unrelated to modern technology, its importance cannot be over-stated. Not only did the Turing Machine help the Allies win World War II, but it also laid the foundation for all computers that are in use today. The machine also helped its creator, Alan Turing, to design more advanced devices that still cause discussion and controversy today. The Turing Machine serves as a testament to the ingenuity of its creator, the potential of technology, and the glory of innovation.
"We arrive at truth, not by reason only, but also by the heart"(1) said Blaise Pascal, one of the greatest minds of the 17th Century. The 17th Century was the time of the scientific revolution. During this period the main idea for everyone, was to question everything not to just listen to what is told. This caused a transformation in thought in both religious and scientific areas. Science allowed the questioning of the teachings of the old church. Scientists battled with ideas in math and physics, while philosophers battled with ideas of God. It was an intellectual revolution concerning the methods for determining humanity's place in the universe. Blaise Pascal was a physicist, a mathematician, and a man of God. He was a Renaissance man of the scientific revolution.
A world relying so heavily on technology was not something that anyone hundreds of years ago could have predicted. In today’s modern society, computers can be seen practically everywhere. Computers can be programmed to do an unimaginable list of things, making them one of the most useful technologies. However, the people that use them seem to forget that the backbone of computers and technology is math. Mathematics is one of the core subjects that are associated with computing, and it goes as far back as the 1700s. Leonhard Euler, born on April 15, 1707, was a mathematician that made an incredible amount of contributions to mathematics back in the day. Euler’s work helped advance many different fields of mathematics by the
An example of a mental state that is determined by a turing machine can be the feeling of happiness. In order to be happy there are certain things that are needed to trigger it. This mental state of being happy is triggered by our perceptions and then causes one to express their mental state physically. Our physical expression, I believe, can be altered. For example, if one were told that a dog was called a cat and only knew that dogs were cats then he would always see a dog and call it a cat. It is only because of what we hear and learn from our environment that we call a dog a dog.
Ada Lovelace was the daughter of famous poet at the time, Lord George Gordon Byron, and mother Anne Isabelle Milbanke, known as “the princess of parallelograms,” a mathematician. A few weeks after Ada Lovelace was born, her parents split. Her father left England and never returned. Women received inferior education that that of a man, but Isabelle Milbanke was more than able to give her daughter a superior education where she focused more on mathematics and science (Bellis). When Ada was 17, she was introduced to Mary Somerville, a Scottish astronomer and mathematician who’s party she heard Charles Babbage’s idea of the Analytic Engine, a new calculating engine (Toole). Charles Babbage, known as the father of computer invented the different calculators. Babbage became a mentor to Ada and helped her study advance math along with Augustus de Morgan, who was a professor at the University of London (Ada Lovelace Biography Mathematician, Computer Programmer (1815–1852)). In 1842, Charles Babbage presented in a seminar in Turin, his new developments on a new engine. Menabrea, an Italian, wrote a summary article of Babbage’s developments and published the article i...
In theory a Turing Machine could be infinite, but in actual practice that would be impossible, because it would require a tape that is infinitely long. This is similar to the idea of having a computer with an infinite storage capacity. However, the machine first devised by Alan Turing in 1936, as a way to solve the Entscheindungsproblem. The Entscheindungsproblem was a famous mathematical problem formulated by David Hilbert. The problem asks if a formal language and a logical statement are provided, can an algorithm output either “True” or “False” based on its validity. It does not have to show how it got to that answer, but it does have to be always correct. Alan Turing and Alonzo Church ultimately proved that there was no answer to the problem, because there is no possible algorithm to decide whether statements in arithmetic are true or false. While he was not able to successfully prove the Entscheindungsproblem he was able to devise the first “infinite” machine, which modern computers would be based off. A Turing Machine can be represented mathematically as a seven-tuple
The history of the computer dates back all the way to the prehistoric times. The first step towards the development of the computer, the abacus, was developed in Babylonia in 500 B.C. and functioned as a simple counting tool. It was not until thousands of years later that the first calculator was produced. In 1623, the first mechanical calculator was invented by Wilhelm Schikard, the “Calculating Clock,” as it was often referred to as, “performed it’s operations by wheels, which worked similar to a car’s odometer” (Evolution, 1). Still, there had not yet been anything invented that could even be characterized as a computer. Finally, in 1625 the slide rule was created becoming “the first analog computer of the modern ages” (Evolution, 1). One of the biggest breakthroughs came from by Blaise Pascal in 1642, who invented a mechanical calculator whose main function was adding and subtracting numbers. Years later, Gottfried Leibnez improved Pascal’s model by allowing it to also perform such operations as multiplying, dividing, taking the square root.
The fist computer, known as the abacus, was made of wood and parallel wires on which beads were strung. Arithmetic operations were performed when the beads were moved along the wire according to “programming” rules that had to be memorized by the user (Soma, 14). The second earliest computer, invented by Blaise Pascal in 1694, was a “digital calculating machine.” Pascal designed this first known digital computer to help his father, who was a tax collector. Pascal’s computer could only add numbers, and they had to be entered by turning dials (Soma, 32). It required a manual process like its ancestor, the abacus. Automation was introduced in the early 1800’s by a mathematics professor named Charles Babbage. He created an automatic calculation machine that was steam powered and stored up to 1000 50-digit numbers. Unlike its two earliest ancestors, Babbage’s invention was able to perform various operations. It relied on cards with holes punched in them, which are called “punch cards.” These cards carried out the programming and storing operations for the machine. Unluckily, Babbage’s creation flopped due to the lack of mechanical precision and the lack of demand for the product (Soma, 46). The machine could not operate efficiently because technology was t adequate to make the machine operate efficiently Computer interest dwindled for many years, and it wasn’t until the mid-1800’s that people became interested in them once again.