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.
7 of 219 works
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?
1938ReyRey,Helen O'LoyEnglishFictionIn copyright
- 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?
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?
1947WienerWiener,A Scientist RebelsEnglishLetterIn copyright
- Q26Can inventors remain responsible for harmful uses of their inventions that they did not intend?
Yes. Wiener responds to a request for wartime research on controlled missiles. He treats disclosure as a moral choice because of foreseeable civilian harm. This supports responsibility for dissemination, not unlimited liability for every unforeseeable use. Brief extract; review the full paragraph before preparing a sorting pool.
- Q26Can inventors remain responsible for harmful uses of their inventions that they did not intend?
1949HartreeHartree,Calculating Instruments and MachinesEnglishTreatiseIn 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.
- Q01Can a machine originate an idea that its maker did not supply?
1949JeffersonJefferson,The Mind of Mechanical Man (Lister Oration)EnglishEssayIn copyright
- Q02Would a machine's ability to converse appropriately be sufficient evidence that it thinks?
No. A machine that produces sonnets or answers is not thinking unless it writes them from felt thoughts and emotions and knows that it has done so.
- Q02Would a machine's ability to converse appropriately be sufficient evidence that it thinks?
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?