双语畅销书《艾伦图灵传》第9章:退隐山林(44)

Nonetheless, beneath the assertive surface of the paper lay probing, needling, teasing questions.

在他坚定而自信的论文下面，他还列举了一些或尖锐、或刺激、或搞笑的反驳。

For this was not tunnel vision, unlike so many scientists, Alan Turing was not trapped within the narrow framework within which his ideas were formed.

图灵的视野非常之宽，他不像有些科学家那样，图灵自己会有一个想法，但其后的讨论，并不会局限在他自己的想法框架中。

Polanyi was keen on pointing out the different models employed by the different branches of scientific enquiry, and the importance of distinguishing them.

波兰尼指出，科学的不同分支，有不同的研究方法，并且他强调，对这些方法进行区分，是非常重要的。

But Edward Carpenter had gone to the heart of the matter long before: The method of Science is the method of all mundane knowledge; it is that of limitation or actual ignorance.

其实在很久以前，爱德华·卡本特已经一语道破了这个问题的本质：科学研究的对象，是现世的具体的知识，因此其方法是有局限性的，是有选择性忽略的。

Placed in face of the great uncontained unity of Nature, we can only deal with it in thought by selecting certain details and isolating those (either wilfully or unconsciously) from the rest.

大自然本身无所不包，但是科学家不能，我们只能在其表面，（有意或无意地）选择一些特定的细节来进行研究，并且忽略其它的细节。

To model the activity of the brain as a 'discrete controlling machine' was a good example of 'selecting certain details'

图灵将大脑的行为，抽象成离散状态机，这就是“选择一些特定的细节”的典型例子。

since the brain could, if desired, be described in many other ways. Alan's thesis was, however, that this was the model relevant to what was called 'thinking'.

大脑可以在很多不同的层面上进行描述，而图灵的模型，只关心大脑的“思维”层面。

As he said a little later, in a parody of Jefferson's argument, We are not interested in the fact that the brain has the consistency of cold porridge.

图灵后来说过，我们对脑浆的粘度完全不感兴趣。

We don't want to say this machine's quite hard, so it isn't a brain, and so it can't think.

我们也不能说，因为这个机器是硬的，所以它就不是大脑，所以它就没有思维。

Or as he wrote in this paper, We do not wish to penalise the machine for its inability to shine in beauty competitions, nor to penalise a man for losing in a race against an aeroplane.

在论文中，图灵这样写道：我们不能因为机器无法参加选美比赛而歧视它，正如不能因为一个人跑不过飞机而歧视他。

The conditions of our game make these disabilities irrelevant.

上面给出的游戏方法，回避了这些不相干的问题。

The 'witnesses' can brag, if they consider it advisable, as much as they please about their charms, strength, or heroism, but the interrogator cannot demand practical demonstrations.

无论是机器还是人类，都可以声称自己很美丽，或者很强壮，但猜测者不会要求它们给出实际的证明。