Lupacchini Rossella
Department of Philosophy, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
Acta Biomed. 2007;78 Suppl 1:39-46.
A Turing machine provides a mathematical definition of the natural process of calculating. It rests on trust that a procedure of reason can be reproduced mechanically. Turing's analysis of the concept of mechanical procedure in terms of a finite machine convinced Gödel of the validity of the Church thesis. And yet, Gödel's later concern was that, insofar as Turing's work shows that "mental procedure cannot go beyond mechanical procedures", it would imply the same kind of limitation on human mind. He therefore deems Turing's argument to be inconclusive. The question then arises as to which extent a computing machine operating by finite means could provide an adequate model of human intelligence. It is argued that a rigorous answer to this question can be given by developing Turing's considerations on the nature of mental processes. For Turing such processes are the consequence of physical processes and he seems to be led to the conclusion that quantum mechanics could help to find a more comprehensive explanation of them.
图灵机为计算的自然过程提供了一种数学定义。它基于这样一种信念，即推理过程可以被机械地复制。图灵从有限机器的角度对机械过程概念的分析使哥德尔相信了丘奇论题的有效性。然而，哥德尔后来担心的是，就图灵的工作表明“心理过程不能超越机械过程”而言，这将意味着人类思维也存在同样的局限性。因此，他认为图灵的论证是没有定论的。于是问题就出现了，一台以有限方式运行的计算机在多大程度上能够提供人类智能的充分模型。有人认为，通过拓展图灵对心理过程本质的思考，可以对这个问题给出一个严谨的答案。对图灵来说，这样的过程是物理过程的结果，他似乎由此得出结论，量子力学有助于找到对它们更全面的解释。
