Single Idea 3979

[catalogued under 18. Thought / B. Mechanics of Thought / 6. Artificial Thought / b. Turing Machines]

Full Idea

Alan Turing had (in his theory of the 'Turing Machine') what I suppose is the best thought about how the mind works that anyone has had so far.

Clarification

Turing Machines mimic rational thought in a mechanical way

Gist of Idea

The Turing Machine is the best idea yet about how the mind works

Source

comment on Alan Turing (Computing Machinery and Intelligence [1950]) by Jerry A. Fodor - Jerry A. Fodor on himself p.296

Book Reference

'A Companion to the Philosophy of Mind', ed/tr. Guttenplan,Samuel [Blackwell 1995], p.296


A Reaction

I am not convinced, because I don't think rationality is possible without consciousness. The brain may bypass the representations used by a computer.