Abstract
The all-pervasive nature of the general-purpose computer has made the most profound mark on almost every aspect of our lives. The central seminal figure in this computer revolution was Alan Turing, whose outstanding originality and vision was what made it possible, in work originating in the mid-1930s. Although it is now hard to see what the limits of the computer revolution might eventually be, it was Turing himself who pointed out to us the very existence of such theoretical limitations. The speaker discusses the heritage of Turing's work and its ongoing effects on computing today. Turing's strongly Bayesian problem solving approaches have advanced developments in understanding the workings of the brain and the human mind. The lecture focuses on the challenges that Turing faced in relation to Enigma, explores Turing's strongly Bayesian problem-solving approaches and looks at the similarities with the problem the brain faces in making sense of its environment. The spreaker looks at how this translates into algorithms used in decisions in relation to the world, and then extends the problem to the greater complexity entailed by an environment where there are other intentional agents. He discusses how the approach and solutions to Enigma forged by Turing can be turned inwards, where the brain itself is the unknown, to probe mechanistic processes that give rise to the very apparatus that is the human mind.
