雙語暢銷書《艾倫圖靈傳》第9章:退隱山林(46)
But he argued that whatever kinds of continuous or random elements were involved in the system—as long as the brain worked in some definite way, in fact—it could be simulated as closely as one pleased by a discrete machine.
This was reasonable since it was only applying the same method of approximation as worked very well in most applied mathematics and in the replacement of analogue by digital devices.
而且其效果可以逼真到令人滿意的程度。這種說法是有道理的，因爲在應用數學中，有很多用離散模擬連續的例子，而這其中的很多近似方法，效果都是能夠令人滿意的。Natural Wonders had begun by proposing the question, 'What have I in common with other living things, and how do I differ from them?'
《自然奇蹟》曾經提過一個問題：“我們和其它生物有什麼相同，又有什麼不同？”
Now Alan was asking what he had in common with a computer, and in what ways he differed.
而現在圖靈要問的是，我們和計算機有什麼相同，又有什麼不同。Besides the distinction of 'continuous' and 'discrete', there was also that of 'controlling' and 'active' to consider.
除了連續性和離散性的區別，他還考慮了受控性和主動性。Here he met the question as to whether his senses, muscular activity and bodily chemistry, were irrelevant to 'thinking', or at least, whether they could be absorbed into a purely 'controlling' model in which the physical effects did not matter.
他考慮這樣一個問題：人類的感覺，分子活動，還有生化活動，這些是否與思維過程無關，或者說，這些是否能夠融入一個與物理作用無關的控制模型。Discussing this problem, he wrote: It will not be possible to apply exactly the same teaching process to the machine as to a normal child.
就這個問題，圖靈進行了討論：訓練機器的過程，不可能與教育普通兒童完全相同。It will not, for instance, be provided with legs, so that it could not be asked to go out and fill the coal scuttle.
比如說，機器沒有腿，所以你不能訓練它出去運煤。Possibly it might not have eyes. But however well these deficiencies might be overcome by clever engineering, one could not send the creature to school without the other children making excessive fun of it.
再比如說，它沒有眼睛。雖然這些缺陷可以依靠先進的技術來彌補，但是即使給機器安上這些東西，把它送到人類學校去，不引起鬨堂大笑也是不太可能的。We need not be too concerned about the legs, eyes, etc.
然而我認爲，腿和眼睛並不是必須的。The example of Miss Helen Keller shows that education can take place provided that communication in both directions between teacher and pupil can take place by some means or other.
海倫·凱勒小姐的故事告訴我們，只要教師和學生之間存在着任何一種溝通方式，就可以實施教育。He was not dogmatic about this line of argument. At the end of the article he wrote (perhaps so as to be on the safe side): It can also be maintained that it is best to provide the machine with the best sense organs that money can buy, and then teach it to understand and speak English.
圖靈在這個問題上，並沒有獨斷專行，在這篇論文的最後，他又補充說：也不妨給機器配上相應的感覺器官，然後教它說英語，等等。
