Alan Turing

The computer is a tool for understanding the universe.

I propose to consider the question, 'Can machines think?' This should begin with definitions of the meaning of the terms 'machine' and 'think.'

If a machine is expected to be infallible, it cannot also be intelligent.

I like to think the brain is a kind of pudding, but not a Christmas pudding.

The popular view that the brain is a 'digital computer' is a profound oversimplification.

No, I am not interested in developing a powerful brain. All I am interested in is a rather crude imitation of a child's brain.

The extent to which we regard mind as distinct from matter, is a matter of convention.

Mathematical logic, as a subject, is going to have a great future.

The idea of a 'thinking machine' is not so absurd as it seems.

I am a homosexual. I have been convicted of gross indecency. I have been subjected to chemical castration.

My interest in the brain is not so much in its structure, but in its function.

The power of machines will one day be so great that they will be able to do anything we can do, and more.

A computer is a universal machine. It can do anything that can be described as a computation.

I don't think that human beings are the be-all and end-all of creation.

The question whether machines can think is as meaningless as the question whether submarines can swim.

The problem of constructing a universal machine is not insoluble.

We are not interested in the fact that a machine can solve a problem, but in the fact that it can solve a problem that we cannot.

The idea of a 'soul' is a philosophical concept, not a scientific one.

I have had a very happy life. I have done many things that I wanted to do.

The question is not whether machines can think, but whether they can be made to think like humans.