Turing, Alan

"Clearly the machine must be treated differently when it is learning and when it is merely operating."

"In contrast with these offline instructions, the text on the user's manuscript would be such as might be given to a person."

"The idea of using the machine to simulate a nervous system, rather than to simulate the complete organism, is attractive."

"The reader must accept it as a law of nature."

"If each operation which has ever been done by a scientist can also be done by the ACE, then we all agree that the ACE can be made to do the work of a scientist."

"Suppose we wanted to construct a thinking machine, and wished this machine to be as general as possible."

"The possibility of having races of men who would be willing to serve as slaves seems to have captured the imagination of most of those who have discussed this subject."

"The child-machine educating method, which I have suggested, is probably the most efficient form of instruction."

"It is probably wise to include the unknowable amongst those properties of a machine which can and cannot be obtained."

"The consequences of machines thinking would be too strange to be acceptable."

"In any case, the evidence of our own senses can be trusted."

"An electronic computing instrument will enable us to perform gigantic calculations at enormous speeds."

"The only question that remains is the extent to which we should apply anthropomorphic terminology in referring to its operations."

"Machines take me by surprise with great frequency - this is a pleasant property."

"Do you know why people like talking to you? It's because you listen to them carefully and don't interrupt."

"I believe that at the end of this 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."

"Can a machine think? This should begin with definitions of the meaning of the terms 'machine' and 'think'."

"In attempting to construct such a machine, we should aim to replace as far as possible the analytical method by the synthetic method."

"We may say most aptly, that the Analytical Engine weaves algebraical patterns just as the Jacquard loom weaves flowers and leaves."

"A computer would deserve to be called intelligent if it could succeed in deceiving a human being in a game of imitation."

"The real question is not whether machines can think, but whether men ought to think of machines as thinking."

"We do not, for instance, feel justified in trying to make the machine exhibit original ideas."

"On the other hand, the property of being 'unorganised' is very much less clear, and will not be attempted here."

"Thinking is a function of man's individual brain and his culture. Therefore, no brain, and no machine, can think alone without these things."

"We should abandon the belief that the brain contains some entity whose behaviour is in principle 'inexplicable by the laws of physics'."

"The Church-Turing thesis cannot be a theorem."

"Turing test: A test of a machine's ability to exhibit intelligent behaviour indistinguishable from that of a human."

"If we can explain away the genesis of obvious design without a designer, we can almost certainly accept the apparent genesis of design in the universe."

"By the structure and behaviour of matter, we should be able to arrive at a mechanical explanation of thought."

"Life is not just about survival anymore. People want more from life. They want to be happy, they want to be fulfilled."