The Inner Workings of Alan Turing Alan Turing had once stated that “we can only see a short distance ahead, but we can see plenty there that needs to be done” and surely enough, Alan did more than anyone could imagine (Hom). Alan Turing, an accomplished mathematician, philosopher, codebreaker, strange visionary, and a gay man, ("Alan Turing: the Enigma") was not always known for his accomplishments towards technology. Turing tended to be very aloof and most of his contributions to the world were created in secret or in the privacy of his home (Ferris) but nevertheless his technological breakthroughs continue to modernize and revolutionize old ideas of technology and what it can be used for. Turing managed to break the “unbreakable” Nazi …show more content…
Alan Turing became a hero when it was discovered that during World War 2, he was a “secret asset for the allies” (Hom) and part of an elite team of “codebreakers” at the Government Code and Cypher School at Bletchley Park where he and his colleagues were bent on breaking the Nazi Enigma Code ("Alan Mathison Turing"), created by the Nazis in order to keep planned airstrikes, U-boat attacks, and other war related plans of action out of reach from the Allies. In order to break the code, Turing created his own “Bombe”, which was a machine that could “rapidly decode the 158 million, million, million variations used by the Nazis in their commands” ("The Turing Enigma"). Alan Turing’s “Bombe” was eventually able to break its first portion of the Enigma Code in early January of 1940 (Hodges 235), which enabled the Allies to track the movements and sink the notorious German U-boat titled U-559 in October of 1942. (Hodges 303). Turing became known for this “Turing Machine” which in modern terms is now referred to as a computer with related hardware and software(xvi). After his accomplishments at Bletchley Park, Turing continued theorizing and creating high speed processing devices because of his belief “that technology could think like a human” which would lead to the foundation of modern computer science (Hom). Alan Turing is also credited for his “Turing Test” which is “a test for determining whether a machine can be claimed to be thinking” ("Alan Mathison
When you wind it up, it can do something I’m sure no other in the world can do. It can tell you the incredible story of Georges Melies, his wife, their goddaughter, and a beloved clock maker whose son grew up to be a magician. The complicated machinery inside my automaton can produce one hundred and fifty-eight pictures, and it can write, letter by letter, an entire book, twenty-six thousand one hundred and fifty-nine words. These words” (Selznick,
He introduces a concept called “intellectual technologies” meaning that we essentially embody the technology we possess. Carr uses the mechanical clock as an example of this by saying, The attention is then turned to Google. The creators admit to desiring to devise something just “as smart as people—or smarter.” The developers believe that they are genuinely working on solving the currently unsolvable–artificial intelligence on a gigantic scale. Carr makes a point to mention that the fact they say humans would be “better off” is worrisome.
The machine reset every 24 hours with a new code. It seemed unbreakable to everyone trying to crack it. During World War II, the Allied Nations were struggling with cryptic communications. Axis Nations could intercept orders sent to the front and easily decipher their meanings. A big obstacle for the United States particularly was the Japanese.
However, Carr did not inform the readers his credentials and professional expertise throughout the essay. His profession is established at the end of the essay on a small footnote, which also provided his other essays and books. In the beginning of his essay, he establishes himself as a trustworthy source by discussing catastrophic events and providing small amounts of history. He also used quotes from historical figures such as the British mathematician and philosopher Alfred North Whitehead to make readers assume that he researched for his topic, which he did (90). Carr also provided opposing viewpoints by giving the reader’s quotes from theorists who are pro-automation and facts that prove humans can be “unreliable and inefficient” when they are responsible for operating simple tasks (93).
The war marked a time for innovation and intellectual improvement all around the world. The Japanese had broken every code used but the Allies, leading to uncertainty in the Pacific Theater section of the war. The Allies continued to fight through these hardships, but when Pearl Harbor showed that the Japanese were making direct attacks against America, the bombing sparked a reinvigorated effort to create a new way to transmit coded messages safely. Thusly the Code Talker program was created. Philip Johnston was the white American man who created the Code Talkers initiative.
He suggests humans have more controlling over machines. He supports his thought by referring to computers in chess that “the computer has no intuition at all, it analyzes the game using brute force [and] inspects the pieces currently on the board, then calculates all options” (Thompson 343). He points out that the way computer thinks is “fundamentally unhuman” and it is the player who runs the program and decides which moves to take (Thompson 343). After all, computers are just tools that we use to optimize accuracy and
Linus Pauling Linus Pauling was a very important scientist who over seven decades of his life made many discoveries in multiple fields of science including: physical, structural, analytical, inorganic, organic chemistry, and biochemistry. He was born in the 20th century and contributed greatly to science field during this time. He is known for “Pauling’s Rules” and other inventions he is responsible for. He would also go on to write his own books detailing some of his work, he made very diverse discoveries and discovered many things in many different fields; which is very unique for a scientist. Pauling was an activist and was very involved and fought for causes he thought were important.
After reading the article I know some reasons why the code they created was so hard to crack. Also I learned some of the role of the Code Talkers during World War II. Here are some of my reasons and the roles of Code Talkers and why the code was so hard to crack during World War II. The Code Talkers are were warriors who used their native language as a weapon during World War II.
The reader realizes then that if the intelligence of technology is increasing exponentially it will not be long at all until it exceeds human intelligence. Kurzweil goes on to make his predictions which show that this is happening as he
But Bletchley Park is remembered, not for the vast majority of its workers, but for people like Alan Turing, the male
Alan Turing: The Enigma is a scientific biography of one of the most brilliant minds in history. Andrew Hodges provides a detailed account of Alan’s life and shows his various contributions to history, mathematics, science etc. It also shows how instead of giving him an exceptional status he was forced to live a horrid life that ultimately led him to commit suicide. Andrew Hodges is a British mathematician, which helped him give a clear insight in Alan Turing’s life and his theories. The book opens up by describing Alan’s life in Britain and his family background.
Alan Turing has inspired people with his algorithms, computing machinery and artificial intelligence (How Alan Turing’s legacy is inspiring our work today). This evidence shows that people were inspired to make future technological advancements by using his codes and algorithms to find AI in computers. Alan Turing has inspired people to decipher encrypted messages because of his attempt to decode the Enigma cipher machine used by the German military (Alan Turing By Jacob Aron). This evidence shows that Alan Turing was able to help the war effort for the British by cracking the Enigma Cipher machine that encrypts messages and frequencies. Alan Turing has inspired people to be fearless to daunting problems just like he did to find out a way to crack open the Enigma machine (What Alan Turing means to us).
The Turing test has become the most widely accepted test of artificial intelligence and the most influential. There are also considerable arguments that the Turing test is not enough to confirm intelligence. Legg and Hutter (2007) cite Block (1981) and Searle (1980) as arguing that a machine may appear intelligent by using a very large set of
Artificial Intelligence is the field within computer science to explain some aspects of the human thinking. It includes aspects of intelligence to interact with the environment through sensory means and the ability to make decisions in unforeseen circumstances without human intervention. The beginnings of modern AI can be traced to classical philosophers' attempts to describe human thinking as a symbolic system. MIT cognitive scientist Marvin Minsky and others who attended the conference
Turing proved himself to be a valuable genius and his contributions to designing the Bombe were significant during World War II, but he encountered disgrace when authorities revealed he was homosexual. Two years after he was convicted of “gross indecency”, he committed suicide by ingesting a lethal