A man provided with paper, pencil, and rubber, and subject to strict discipline, is in effect a universal machine.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- A disciplined human with basic tools can function as a universal computing machine.
- In plain terms
- A focused person with pen and paper can compute anything.
- What can you take from it?
- Humans can be powerful computers with discipline.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- Are you your own best computer?
- How does discipline change your output?
Another view
Humans are slower and more prone to error than machines.
More from Alan Turing
Instruction tables will have to be made up by mathematicians with computing experience and perhaps a certain puzzle-solving ability. There need be no real dang…
Permalink to quote #2 Science is a differential equation. Religion is a boundary condition.
Permalink to quote #4 Mathematical reasoning may be regarded rather schematically as the exercise of a combination of two facilities, which we may call intuition and ingenuity. The …
Permalink to quote #1
Related quotes
The German army is a machine, and machines can be broken!
Konstantin RokossovskyKonstantin Rokossovsky quote #1 I have a lot of respect for tough coaches.
Reggie WhiteReggie White quote #1 For a long time I limited myself to one colour - as a form of discipline.
Pablo PicassoPablo Picasso quote #1