双语畅销书《艾伦图灵传》第9章:退隐山林(46)
日期:2019-11-16 14:00

(单词翻译:单击)

But he argued that whatever kinds of continuous or random elements were involved in the system—as long as the brain worked in some definite way, in fact—it could be simulated as closely as one pleased by a discrete machine.
随后图灵又反驳说,无论这个系统中存在什么样的连续或随机因素,但只要大脑是以确定的方式在运行,就一定可以用离散状态机来模拟,
This was reasonable since it was only applying the same method of approximation as worked very well in most applied mathematics and in the replacement of analogue by digital devices.
而且其效果可以逼真到令人满意的程度。这种说法是有道理的,因为在应用数学中,有很多用离散模拟连续的例子,而这其中的很多近似方法,效果都是能够令人满意的。
Natural Wonders had begun by proposing the question, 'What have I in common with other living things, and how do I differ from them?'
《自然奇迹》曾经提过一个问题:“我们和其它生物有什么相同,又有什么不同?”
Now Alan was asking what he had in common with a computer, and in what ways he differed.
而现在图灵要问的是,我们和计算机有什么相同,又有什么不同。
Besides the distinction of 'continuous' and 'discrete', there was also that of 'controlling' and 'active' to consider.
除了连续性和离散性的区别,他还考虑了受控性和主动性。
Here he met the question as to whether his senses, muscular activity and bodily chemistry, were irrelevant to 'thinking', or at least, whether they could be absorbed into a purely 'controlling' model in which the physical effects did not matter.
他考虑这样一个问题:人类的感觉,分子活动,还有生化活动,这些是否与思维过程无关,或者说,这些是否能够融入一个与物理作用无关的控制模型。
Discussing this problem, he wrote: It will not be possible to apply exactly the same teaching process to the machine as to a normal child.
就这个问题,图灵进行了讨论:训练机器的过程,不可能与教育普通儿童完全相同。
It will not, for instance, be provided with legs, so that it could not be asked to go out and fill the coal scuttle.
比如说,机器没有腿,所以你不能训练它出去运煤。
Possibly it might not have eyes. But however well these deficiencies might be overcome by clever engineering, one could not send the creature to school without the other children making excessive fun of it.
再比如说,它没有眼睛。虽然这些缺陷可以依靠先进的技术来弥补,但是即使给机器安上这些东西,把它送到人类学校去,不引起哄堂大笑也是不太可能的。
We need not be too concerned about the legs, eyes, etc.
然而我认为,腿和眼睛并不是必须的。
The example of Miss Helen Keller shows that education can take place provided that communication in both directions between teacher and pupil can take place by some means or other.
海伦·凯勒小姐的故事告诉我们,只要教师和学生之间存在着任何一种沟通方式,就可以实施教育。
He was not dogmatic about this line of argument. At the end of the article he wrote (perhaps so as to be on the safe side): It can also be maintained that it is best to provide the machine with the best sense organs that money can buy, and then teach it to understand and speak English.
图灵在这个问题上,并没有独断专行,在这篇论文的最后,他又补充说:也不妨给机器配上相应的感觉器官,然后教它说英语,等等。

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