Explore the vast range of titles available.

Alan M. Turing’s last published work and some posthumously published manuscripts were dedicated to the development of his theory of organic pattern formation. In “The Chemical Basis of Morphogenesis” (1952), he provided an elaborated mathematical formulation of the theory of the origins of biological form that had been first proposed by Sir D’Arcy Wendworth Thompson in On Growth and Form (1917/1942). While arguably his most mathematically detailed and his systematically most ambitious effort, Turing’s morphogenetical writings also form the most thematically self-contained and least philosophically explored part of his work. We dedicate our inquiry to the reasons and the implications of Turing’s choice of biological topic and viewpoint. We will probe for possible factors in Turing’s choice that go beyond availability and acquaintance with On Growth and Form. On these grounds, we will explore how and to what extent his theory of morphogenesis actually ties in with his concept of mechanistic computation. Notably, Thompson’s pioneering work in biological ‘structuralism’ was organicist in outlook and explicitly critical of the Darwinian approaches that were popular with Turing’s cyberneticist contemporaries—and partly used by Turing himself in his proto-connectionist models of learning. Resolving this apparent dichotomy, we demonstrate how Turing’s quest for mechanistic explanations of how organisation emerges in nature leaves room for a non-mechanist view of nature.

'In a short life he accomplished much, and to the roll of great names in the history of his particular studies added his own.' So is described one of the greatest figures of the twentieth century, yet Alan Turing's name was not widely recognised until his contribution to the breaking of the German Enigma code became public in the 1970s. The story of Turing's life fascinates and in the years since his suicide, Turing's reputation has only grown, as his contributions to logic, mathematics, computing, artificial intelligence and computational biology have become better appreciated. To commemorate the centenary of Turing's birth, this republication of his mother's biography is enriched by a new foreword by Martin Davis and a never-before-published memoir by Alan's older brother. The contrast between this memoir and the original biography reveals tensions and sheds new light on Turing's relationship with his family, and on the man himself.

L’intelligence artificielle (IA) est régulièrement agitée comme étendard d’un progrès à la fois fascinant et révulsant, et ce alors même que son concept est déjà ancien. En effet, dès les années 1950, le mathématicien Alan Turing et les équipes du National Physical Laboratory (NPL) rendent public l’Automatic Computing Engine (ACE), une des premières machines programmables. Poussant la vieille distinction philosophique entre le corps et l’esprit (hardware/software) à son paroxysme, Turing en vient à considérer explicitement la possibilité d’un cerveau électronique. Dans son article \"Les ordinateurs et l’intelligence,\" publié la même année, Turing se demande à quelles conditions une entité calculante pourrait être douée d’intelligence et, le cas échéant, comment le reconnaître du point de vue humain.

Les aspects sociaux de la logique dans les formes de vie symboliques du quotidien sont importants : c’est la signification des algorithmes en ce qu’ils affectent les rapports entre les êtres humains. Alors que l’intelligence artificielle (IA) a eu tendance jusqu’à maintenant à se concentrer sur les structures cognitives individuelles de l’esprit, dans le but d’imiter celles-ci et de les transférer aux machines, c’est notre nature d’êtres pour qui les symboles comptent et qui vivent en société qui est à l’origine du développement des algorithmes. Ceci restera toujours vrai dans l’avenir.

Declassified documents from the \"Crane Collection\" at the National Archives (USA) reveal much of the cryptanalytical collaboration that defeated the German Naval Enigma machine. As researchers continue to work through these papers, new light is shed on that relationship. In May, 2002 a manuscript, typed and handwritten, by Alan M. Turing was found by the author in the \"Crane Collection\". Written at the time of his United States visit during the winter of 1942-1943, it reflects Government Code and Cypher School (GC&CS) interests and skepticism regarding the US Naval Intelligence (OP-20-G) effort to independently design and construct its own rapid analytical machines (RAMs).