The Turing Problem

Radiolab

WNYC Studios

Society & Culture, History, Documentary, Natural Sciences, Science

4.6 • 44.5K Ratings

🗓️ 19 March 2012

⏱️ 23 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

100 years ago this year, the man who first conceived of the computer age was born. His name was Alan Turing. He was also a math genius, a hero of World War II and he is widely considered to be the father of artificial intelligence. But the world wasn't kind to Alan Turing. In 1952, he was arrested and convicted under a British law that prohibited "acts of gross indecency between men, in public or private."

Transcript

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0:00.0	Wait, you're listening.
0:01.1	Okay.
0:02.4	All right.
0:03.6	Okay.
0:05.0	All right.
0:06.4	You're listening to Radio Lab.
0:09.4	Radio Lab.
0:10.0	Shorts.
0:11.4	From W. N. Y. C.
0:14.7	See?
0:15.0	Yes.
0:16.5	And NPR.
0:18.7	Three, two.
0:20.2	Hey there. I'm Robert Krellwitch.
0:21.6	Jad is on paternity leave.
0:23.6	This is Radio Lab, the podcast.
0:25.6	And today, I thought I'd introduce you to a particular guy on a particular day in Manchester,
0:31.6	England.
0:32.6	It's 1952, and Alan Turing, a math professor, discovers that a number of things have disappeared from his home. It looked kind of like a burglar. He was missing a shirt, a pair of shoes. An old pair of pants, maybe a compass. It was stuff. It was just household stuff. Nothing of any value. That's Jan 11 and David Levin. Both of them have written books about Alan Turing. And so being very literal-minded, he thought, well, what do you do when you're robbed? You call the police. So the police come to his house, the detectives, he has this conversation and they say, you know, he's kind of a curious chap. They let him talk. And they're like, it's a real shame. We're going to have to arrest him. Who? Turing.
1:11.9	Why would they have to arrest?
1:13.0	Because he's effectively implicated himself in terms of...
1:16.9	Here's what happened. The police sat tearing down and said,
	...

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