219 works selected for the 40 candidate questions. Selections approved by Ben Breen, 29 September 2026. Arguments are unverified. Quotations were chosen by machine and are unchecked.
9 of 219 works
1908PoundPound,Mechanical JurisprudenceEnglishPeriodicalFull text
- Q11Should a judge follow a general rule when it produces an unjust result in a particular case?
No. Criticizes judges who deduce decisions mechanically from fixed conceptions regardless of results, and calls for law judged by how it works in practice.
- Q11Should a judge follow a general rule when it produces an unjust result in a particular case?
1911Henry et al.Henry et al.,Sensory Disturbances from Cerebral LesionsEnglishPeriodicalFull text
- Q37Should tools used to perform bodily functions be understood as parts of the human body?
Yes. Anything that takes part in the conscious movement of the body is added to the body schema; a woman's sense of location may extend to the feather in her hat.
- Q37Should tools used to perform bodily functions be understood as parts of the human body?
1914QuevedoQuevedo,Essays on AutomaticsSpanishPeriodicalFull text
Leonardo Torres Quevedo
Ensayos sobre automática: su definición, extensión teórica de sus aplicaciones
Spanish · Periodical
Full text · No English translation
Open source →- Q02Would a machine's ability to converse appropriately be sufficient evidence that it thinks?
No. Torres argues that appropriate replies need not involve the automaton’s own reasoning: the constructor could prearrange them. The restored paragraph compares the practical difficulty with constructing a lifelike animal. This is a theoretical construction, not a report of a built conversational machine.
- Q03Can a machine exercise judgment when faced with circumstances its maker did not anticipate?
Yes. Torres rejects the mental/manual distinction and proposes automata whose actions are determined by circumstances under rules fixed at construction. Arbitrariamente means rules freely specified by the constructor, not random conduct. This passage does not establish learning beyond anticipated cases.
- Q02Would a machine's ability to converse appropriately be sufficient evidence that it thinks?
1919FreudFreud,The UncannyGermanPeriodicalFull text
- Q39Can love for an artificial being remain genuine after its artificial nature is known?
This answer is hidden while the authors build this question’s position key.
- Q39Can love for an artificial being remain genuine after its artificial nature is known?
1922LippmannLippmann,The Mental Age of AmericansEnglishPeriodicalNo text yet
- Q12Can numerical measures adequately determine a person's fitness for a position of responsibility?
No. Argues in six New Republic essays that the Army tests do not measure inborn intelligence and that the claim of an average mental age of fourteen is nonsense.
- Q12Can numerical measures adequately determine a person's fitness for a position of responsibility?
1933BerdyaevBerdyaev,Man and MachineRussianPeriodicalFull text
- Q31Can reliance on machinery become a form of idolatry?
Yes. Berdyaev describes faith in technics as the remaining strong faith of modern civilized humanity, whose attachment to it may change humanity’s own image.
- Q31Can reliance on machinery become a form of idolatry?
1936TuringTuring,On Computable Numbers, with an Application to the EntscheidungsproblemEnglishPeriodicalIn copyright
- Q10Can a fixed procedure for reasoning settle a disagreement when the participants accept the same premises?
No. Proves that no general mechanical procedure can decide, for every statement of first-order logic, whether it follows from given axioms.
- Q10Can a fixed procedure for reasoning settle a disagreement when the participants accept the same premises?
1943RosenbluethRosenblueth,Behavior, Purpose and TeleologyEnglishPeriodicalIn copyright
Arturo Rosenblueth, Norbert Wiener and Julian Bigelow
English · Periodical
In copyright · English original
Open source →- Q03Can a machine exercise judgment when faced with circumstances its maker did not anticipate?
Yes. Machines governed by negative feedback correct their course toward a goal from information about their own errors, so purposeful behavior is not unique to organisms.
- Q03Can a machine exercise judgment when faced with circumstances its maker did not anticipate?
1950TuringTuring,Computing Machinery and IntelligenceEnglishPeriodicalIn copyright
- Q01Can a machine originate an idea that its maker did not supply?
This answer is hidden while the authors build this question’s position key.
- Q02Would a machine's ability to converse appropriately be sufficient evidence that it thinks?
Yes. Replaces 'Can machines think?' with the imitation game: a machine that converses indistinguishably from a human should be credited as we credit other people.
- Q03Can a machine exercise judgment when faced with circumstances its maker did not anticipate?
Yes. Turing distinguishes a trained machine from a computation whose internal state the operator aims to follow. The omitted continuation allows some prediction of its behaviour; opacity alone does not establish judgment. Brief extract: the full pp.458–459 discussion should be reviewed before making a sorting pool.
- Q01Can a machine originate an idea that its maker did not supply?