Alan Turing and the Limits of Computation

Sunday, February 9, 2025

What Is It

Alan Turing was a 20th-Century English mathematician and cryptologist who is widely considered to be the father of theoretical computer science. In 1950, he published a definition of a computer that is both universal, general enough to apply to any specific computing architecture, and mathematically rigorous, so that it lets us prove claims about what computers can and can't do. What does Turing's writing teach us about the bounds of reason? Which thoughts are too complicated for a computer to express? Is the human brain just another kind of computer, or can it do things that machines can't? Josh and Ray calculate the answers with Juliet Floyd from Boston University, editor of Philosophical Explorations of the Legacy of Alan Turing.

 

Transcript

Transcript

Ray Briggs  
Can computers be like human minds?

Josh Landy  
Or is the human mind just a kind of computer?

Ray Briggs  
Is there anything computers can't do?

Comments (4)


praz's picture

praz

Friday, January 10, 2025 -- 2:47 PM

How do I watch this podcast?

How do I watch this podcast?

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Devon's picture

Devon

Monday, January 13, 2025 -- 7:54 AM

It will air on KALW 91.7 FM

It will air on KALW 91.7 FM in San Francisco on Sunday Feb-9 at 11 am pacific and then be available to listen to here.

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Daniel's picture

Daniel

Thursday, January 23, 2025 -- 2:22 PM

Because the Turing Test for

Because the Turing Test for machine intelligence is based (by my reading) on the indemonstrable assumption of its categorical distinction from human intelligence, it constitutes a test for whether thinking can be found anywhere in the pool of unproblematically existing machine intelligence. Apparently, thinking occurs as a single species of the wider genus of intelligence, which latter can predicate objects described as mechanized in addition to non-mechanized human beings.

If in equal apparent measures of intelligence-levels occurring in both sections (the human and the machine), no difference is detectable (or if one exceeds the other while each lack perceptible defects), then thinking occurs in the machine-section. Contained in the operative assumption of a radical human/machine distinction is that no limit can be placed on where machine thinking can be observed regardless of how closely it approximates the appearance of human thinking or exceeds it in apparent intelligence level. The question of consciousness is by this extraneous to the question of thought-occurrences, since only the appearance of a thinking object is asserted, not any claim of its existence. Wherever perceptible intelligence-level approximates to an undifferentiated degree characteristically human intelligence (or exceeds it), the mechanized object is said to be thinking without having to commit to a claim about what's doing it.

So does the categorical distinction between humans and machines, the general concept of intelligence, and the particular reference to thinking known only to occur in the human variety prior to computational models, indicate a direct opposition to later computational models of cognitive processes which seek to confirm by replication a cognitive model already worked out? Can it be plausibly said that because Turing insisted on a non-human status for machines, (e.g. discrete contra continuous systems), that his model could not tolerate the assertion of artificial intelligence, but only real or non-artificial thinking?

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Ivango's picture

Ivango

Thursday, March 6, 2025 -- 6:31 AM

Alan Turing’s groundbreaking

Alan Turing’s groundbreaking work explored the boundaries of what machines can compute, but even he might appreciate the elegance of simpler systems—like converting volts to amps. Just as Turing’s universal machine laid the foundation for modern computing, electrical principles like voltage (the "push" behind electrons) and amperage (the flow rate) form the bedrock of energy systems.

Turing asked: Can machines think? Similarly, we might ask: Can a simple formula—like Ohm’s Law (I = V/R)—capture the complexity of real-world circuits? While volts and amps are measurable, predictable units, their interaction mirrors Turing’s fascination with how basic rules generate infinite possibilities.

Yet, just as Turing recognized limits to computational reason, electrical systems have constraints. Not every voltage can be safely converted to amps without considering resistance, heat, or context. It’s a reminder that even "universal" principles (in math or energy) require practical wisdom.

Explore the interplay of volts and amps in action with this handy converter: a1solarstore.com/volts-to-amps/ .

Like Turing’s legacy, it’s a tool that bridges theory and practice—one calculation at a time.

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