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" The Turing test is a popular approach, but it flies in the face of the standard scientific method, which starts with the easier problems before facing the harder ones. Thus I soon raised the question with myself, “What is the smallest or close to the smallest program I would believe could think?” Clearly, if the program were divided into two parts, then neither piece could think. I tried thinking about it each night as I put my head on the pillow to sleep, and after a year of considering the problem and getting nowhere I decided it was the wrong question! Perhaps “thinking” is not a yes/no thing, but maybe it is a matter of degree. "

Richard Hamming , The Art of Doing Science and Engineering: Learning to Learn


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Richard Hamming quote : The Turing test is a popular approach, but it flies in the face of the standard scientific method, which starts with the easier problems before facing the harder ones. Thus I soon raised the question with myself, “What is the smallest or close to the smallest program I would believe could think?” Clearly, if the program were divided into two parts, then neither piece could think. I tried thinking about it each night as I put my head on the pillow to sleep, and after a year of considering the problem and getting nowhere I decided it was the wrong question! Perhaps “thinking” is not a yes/no thing, but maybe it is a matter of degree.