Major achievements

turing

During the period of 1936, Turing submitted a paper entitled "On the Application of Digital Computing in Solving Difficult Problems" to the authoritative mathematical magazine in London, which was his research achievement on theoretical computers.

The computer room of King's College of Cambridge University is now named Turing.

In this groundbreaking paper, Turing gave a strict mathematical definition of "computability" and put forward the famous idea of "Turing machine". "Turing Machine" is as famous as "Von Neumann Machine" and is recorded in the history of computer development forever. . Turing machine is not a concrete machine, but an ideological model, which can make a very simple but extremely powerful computing device to calculate all imaginable computable functions. The basic idea is to use machines to simulate the mathematical operations carried out by people with paper and pens.

Turing machine is recognized as the prototype of modern computer. This machine can read a series of zeros and 1, which represent the steps needed to solve a problem. If you follow this step, you can solve a problem. This concept was revolutionary at that time, because even in 1950s, most computers could only solve a specific problem, which was not universal, while Turing machine was theoretically.

Turing machine model theory

Universal machine in Turing's view, this kind of machine only needs to save some of the simplest instructions, and a complex job can be realized by decomposing it into these simplest operations. It was really remarkable that he could have such an idea at that time. He believes that there is an algorithm that can solve most problems, but the difficulty is how to determine the simplest instruction set, what kind of instruction set is the least and can be used, and how to decompose complex problems into these instructions.

"Turing machine" envisages the use of infinite paper tape, which is divided into many squares. If Gerry draws a line, it means "1"; The blank grid represents "0". Imagine that this "computer" also has the function of reading and writing: it can read information from and write information to the tape. The only calculation function of the computer is to change "1" into "0" or "0" into "1" every time the paper tape moves forward. "0" and "1" represent the operation steps to solve a specific mathematical problem. Turing machine can identify every step in the operation process and carry out a series of operations step by step until the final answer is obtained.

Turing machine is a virtual computer, which completely ignores the hardware state and only pays attention to the logical structure. In his famous article, Turing further designed a model called "Universal Turing Machine", which can simulate the working state of any other Turing Machine for solving a specific mathematical problem. He even imagined storing data and programs on tape. "Universal Turing Machine" is actually the most primitive model of modern universal computer.

1939, atanasoff, USA, really researched and manufactured the world's first electronic computer ABC, which used binary system, and the on and off of the circuit respectively represented the numbers 0 and 1, and used electronic tubes and circuits for logic operation. ABC is the first hardware implementation of "Turing Machine", which is tangible. Von Neumann not only successfully developed an electronic computer with better functions and wider applications in the 1940s, but also designed a coding program for the computer, which realized the storage and input with paper tape.

Turing was the first scientist who proposed to use some kind of machine to realize the execution of logic code, thus simulating various calculation and logical thinking processes of human beings. This has become the ideological source of designing practical computers in later generations, and it is also the theoretical cornerstone of various computer equipment today. Today, the highest honor in the field of computer science in the world is called "Turing Award", which is equivalent to the Nobel Prize in computer science.

artificial intelligence

1950, turing was hired as a researcher at the national institute of physics in tettington, and began to engage in the logical design and specific development of "automatic computer" (ACE). He raised questions about machine thinking, and his paper "Computational Machinery and Intelligence" attracted wide attention and far-reaching influence. 1952' s paper is regarded as the foundation work of biomathematics today, and it is at most one of the third greatest contributions in his short scientific career. Turing's three major contributions are: research on theoretical computers, deciphering the passwords of German U-boats in World War II, and research on artificial intelligence. Turing has also made many contributions in the fields of mathematics, logic, neural network and artificial intelligence. At the turn of the new century, in 2000, among the most influential figures in the 20th century 100 selected by Time magazine, Turing, Watson and Crick were all on the list of "scientists and thinkers", with only 20.

Decipher the German code.

Turing led the British government to decipher the code of the German U-submarine in World War II, so as to reverse the decline of the allied forces in World War II.

Statue of Allen Mathison Turing

The Atlantic battlefield has made great contributions.

Shortly after the outbreak of World War II, Britain declared war on Germany, and Turing immediately joined the army and worked in the British wartime intelligence center "Institute of Government Coding and Cryptography". At that time, the Germans developed an enigma cipher machine, which can automatically convert ordinary language (plaintext) into code (ciphertext) and then transmit it by radio or telephone line. Even if intercepted, it is difficult for the other party to decipher.

Turing led more than 200 cryptographers to develop a more efficient and powerful cryptographer, which increased the number of messages deciphered by the British wartime intelligence center from 39,000 to 84,000 per month. This information played an important role. Historians believe that Turing ended World War II two years ahead of schedule and saved at least 20 million lives. Turing therefore won the 1946 Best Medal of the British Empire.

Turing test

1950 10, Turing published another paper entitled "Can machines think? , in which he proposed a

Turing test

Turing test is a test method to judge whether the machine is intelligent or not. There are trials every year.

1950 wrote an article and put forward the famous "Turing test". The test is for human examiners to ask questions to a person and a machine through a keyboard. The examiner doesn't know whether he is asking a person or a machine. If after a certain period of questioning, the human examiner can't determine who is a person and who is a machine, then the machine has intelligence.

In the research of artificial intelligence, Turing put forward an experiment called Turing Test, trying to establish a standard to determine whether a machine has feelings.

Turing experiment consists of computer, subjects and the person in charge of the experiment. The computer and the person being tested are in two different rooms. During the test, the host asked questions, and the computer and the testee answered them respectively. Observers can communicate with machines and people through teleprinters (avoiding asking machines to imitate people's appearance and voice). When answering questions, the subjects try to show that they are a "real" person, and the computer will imitate people's way of thinking and thinking process as realistically as possible. If the test host can't tell which one is answered by human and which one is answered by machine after listening to their respective answers, it can be considered that the computer is intelligent. This experiment may be recognized by most people, but it is impossible to satisfy all philosophers.

Although Turing experiment vividly depicts the simulated relationship between computer intelligence and human intelligence, Turing experiment is still a one-sided experiment. Of course, a machine that passes the test can be considered intelligent, but a machine that fails the test cannot simulate human beings because it doesn't know enough about human beings.

There are still some points worthy of scrutiny in Turing experiment. For example, there is no clear standard for the test host to ask questions in the experiment; Turing test also ignores the intelligence level of the subjects; Moreover, Turing test only emphasizes the test results and does not reflect the thinking process of intelligence. Therefore, Turing test still cannot completely solve the problem of machine intelligence.

In fact, it is too much to ask computers to imitate humans so closely that they can't be distinguished from a person. Some experts believe that the goal should not be whether the computer can think, but to what extent it can imitate human thinking; Then, let the designer work towards this goal again.