Andrew Hodges Quotes & Sayings

HIs chess-playing methods did the same thing - as did the games on the Colossi - and posed the question as to where a line could be drawn between the 'intelligent' and the 'mechanical'. His view, expressed in terms of the imitation principle, was that there was no such line, and neither did he ever draw a sharp distinction between the 'states of mind' approach and the 'instruction note' approach to the problem of reconciling the appearance of freedom and of determinism. — Andrew Hodges

The opening of a public debate about male homosexuality in Britain in 1952 was the conflict of the small back room, in another sphere. — Andrew Hodges

One is perhaps too inclined to think only of him alive at some future time when we shall meet him again; but it is really so much more helpful to think of him as just separated from us for the present. — Andrew Hodges

The separation between any two events in the history of a particle shall be a maximum or minimum when measured along its world line. — Andrew Hodges

uncomputable numbers — Andrew Hodges

On 25 May 2011, the President of the United States, Barack Obama, speaking to the parliament of the United Kingdom, singled out Newton, Darwin and Alan Turing as British contributors to science. Celebrity is an imperfect measure of significance, and politicians do not confer scientific status, but Obama's choice signalled that public recognition of Alan Turing had attained a level very much higher than in 1983, when this book first appeared. — Andrew Hodges

Alan Turing, however, cared nothing for the opinion of society, and therefore was ahead of his time in laying bare the role of the state. — Andrew Hodges

It would probably never have occurred to him that his own difficulties with the world were akin to those suffered by women-- as with the men's committee meetings held over his head, almost as if he were not there, and the way people took little notice of what he had said or written, but remained obsessed by details of manners or appearance. Women had to learn to compensate for these indignities by making a special effort, but Alan Turing made no such attempt. He expected the male world to work for him, and was baffled when it did not. — Andrew Hodges

His machines - soon to be called Turing machines - offered a bridge, a connection between abstract symbols and the physical world. — Andrew Hodges

He also liked to root around in sales and street markets, and picked up a violin in London, on Farringdon Road, for which he took some lessons. — Andrew Hodges

For him, breaking the Enigma was much easier than the problem of dealing with other people, especially with those holding power. — Andrew Hodges