Alan Turing: person of the XXth century?
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.3989/arbor.2013.764n6008Keywords:
mathematics, logic, cryptography, scientific computation, artificial intelligenceAbstract
“Time” magazine chose Albert Einstein as “Person of the Century.” This was undoubtedly a reasonable choice, but as I will argue in this article, there are also good reasons for contending that Turing might have received this honor. One such reason I consider here is his purely scientific work, which stems from the greatest mathematical tradition, and how it affected the development of mathematics itself and was finally instrumental in shaping a new technological world. This is true both as regards the computation and treatment of information as well as the establishment of new forms of social relations. In relation to the foregoing, we have Turing’s contributions to the deciphering of secret codes during the Second World War, which in a somewhat metaphorical sense may be regarded as a new tool for undermining personal privacy, that civil right whose denial finally ruined his life
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