Alan Turing

"Let us say that we are not interested in the machinery of thought, but in the product of thought."

"The modern machines, like those of the future, must be taught to learn from experience."

"To construct machines that think, we must first think about what thinking is."

"Mathematics provides the language by which we can speak to machines and they to us."

"The question is not whether machines can think, but whether we are prepared for machines that might."

"Computing machinery has only to run by itself, to achieve any result whatsoever."

"In the end, the thinking machine may teach us more about ourselves than we teach it."

"The digital computer represents a new kind of being in this universe, one that thinks in zeros and ones."

"Do our minds contain anything which cannot be explained by the machinery of atoms and molecules?"

"The ability of machines to learn suggests that learning itself might be more mechanical than we assume."

"Programming a machine to think requires us to articulate what we ourselves do without thinking."

"Perhaps one day we shall say that a machine understands, as naturally as we say a man understands."

"The universal computing machine can simulate any other machine that is constructible in theory."

"We stand at the threshold of a new age where the distinction between thinking and computing may vanish."

"The digital computer is a device of astonishing potentiality, limited only by our imagination."

"If we could program a machine to behave exactly like a human, would we deny that it possesses consciousness?"

"The Analytical Engine might be said to weave algebraical patterns much as the Jacquard loom weaves flowers."

"Mathematical proof is the closest we come to absolute truth in this uncertain world."

"The question of machine intelligence forces us to ask uncomfortable questions about human nature itself."

"Computing is not about what we can make machines do, but about what we can dream."

"A machine that could pass for human in conversation would indeed be a remarkable achievement."

"The laws of physics do not forbid the construction of computing machinery of almost unlimited capacity."

"We should focus not on building perfect machines, but on building machines capable of growth."

"The brain is not fundamentally different from a machine, merely more complex."

"If we grant that machines might think, we must also grant that thinking might be more mechanical than we believe."

"The digital revolution is not about the machines themselves, but about the revolution in human thought they represent."

"To say a machine cannot think because it is mechanical is to misunderstand both mechanics and thought."

"The future of thinking machines depends not on how well we can copy human behavior, but on how creatively we can extend it."

"In the end, all thought may be computation, and all computation may be thought."

"The study of machines teaches us that intelligence is not a single property but a collection of capacities."