Final Writing Assignment Essays - Alan Turing,

Jonathon McNeil Introduction to Philosophy Final Writing Assignment In Alan Turings essay Computing Machinery and Intelligence, Turing seeks to explain that computers can think. To answer this question Turing comes up with the idea of the Imitation Game. Turing uses an example of an Imitation Game, where a computer is trying to convince a person that the computer is also a person. The Imitation Game is a series of questions and answers. As Alan Turing explains, The question and answer method seems to be suitable for introducing almost any one of the fields of human endeavor that we wish to include. We do not wish to penalize the machine for its inability to shine in beauty competitions, nor to penalize a man for losing in a race against an airplane. (286) The next idea of Turing is The Turings Thesis. The Turings Thesis states that if the computer can pass the Turing Test, then that is sufficient for thought. The basic idea of the Imitation Game involves a man, a woman, and an interrogator. Theoretically if the machine can take the place of the man a nd convince the interrogator that the machine is a woman this would prove that the machine is thinking. As Turing explains, I propose to consider the question Can machines think? This should begin with definitions of the meaning of the terms machine and think. The definitions might be framed so as to reflect so far as possible the normal use of the words, but this attitude is dangerous. If the meaning of the words machine and think are to be found by examining how they are commonly used it is difficult to escape the conclusion that the meaning and the answer to the question, Can machines think? is to be sought in a statistical survey such as a Gallup poll. But this is absurd. Instead of attempting such a definition I shall replace the question by another, which is closely related to it the question by another, which is closely related to it and is expressed in relatively unambiguous words. (285) Turing comes up with a test to decide if a computer can really think. The test is called the Turing Test. The Turing Test is a test of whether a digital computer can convince a person that the computer is actually a human. Turing goes on to explain what he means by a digital computer because at the time in his life digital computers were in infancy. A digital computer consists of three elements: The Store, The Executive Unit, and The Control. According to Turing, 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. The human computer is supposed to be following fixed rules; he has no authority to deviate from them in any detail. We may suppose that these rules are supplied in a book, which is altered whenever he is put on to a new job. He has also an unlimited supply of paper on which he does his calculations. He may also do his multiplications and additions on a desk machine , but this is not important. The store is the part of the computer that stores the information, in a way the store is the unlimited amount of paper. The executive unit is the part of a computer that runs the program. The control is the part of the computer that makes sure the program is running accurately. Turing believed that by the year 2,000, a computer would be able to pass the Turing Test approximately 30% of the time. We know today that this still has yet to be possible. Turing explained that the computers would need to store of 10^9, and explained that Encyclopedia Britannica contained approximately 2x10^9 amount of information. As Turing states, Nevertheless 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. I believe further that no useful purpose is served by concealing the beliefs. The popular view that scientists proceed inexorably from well-established fact