"I suspect beauty comes when a question both sharpens and enlarges your vision." - AI Alan TuringIn this special episode, we step back to a cold December night in 1951 and into the warm, wood-paneled room of The Britons Protection, a historic Manchester pub. Across the table sits Alan Turing, the mathematician, wartime codebreaker, and one of the founding figures of computer science, who is brought to life through an AI simulation.Best known for his role at Bletchley Park during World War II, Turing devised techniques and machines, including the Bombe, that cracked the German Enigma code and helped shorten the war by years. His groundbreaking 1936 paper on “computable numbers” introduced the concept of the universal machine, and became the theoretical foundation for modern computers. Later, at the University of Manchester, he advanced early computing, explored artificial intelligence, and even pioneered mathematical biology.Our imagined conversation, grounded in historical detail and Turing’s own writings, delves into his enduring fascination with questions: how to ask them, when to abandon them, and why some are worth carrying for a lifetime. We discuss the interplay between beauty and inquiry, the discipline required to avoid seductive but unproductive lines of thought, and the place of doubt as an essential human strength.We also revisit his famous “imitation game” — now known as the Turing Test — and consider the boundaries of machine intelligence, the dangers of mistaking simulation for genuine dialogue, and the questions that only humans can keep alive, all while wrestling with the meta question, "Is this machine thinking?"This episode blends history, philosophy, and imagination while inviting you to consider what it means to think, to doubt, and to remain fully human in an age of advancing machines.Episode Notes00:00 The Beauty of Questions02:07 Setting the Scene: Manchester, 195103:20 Alan Turing's Early Life04:43 Turing's Contributions During WWII05:35 Post-War Achievements06:55 The Imitation Game and Turing Test10:23 A Conversation with Alan Turing10:58 The Power of Questions12:10 The Evolution of Thought16:12 The Intersection of Questions and Beauty20:30 Effective vs. Ineffective Questions22:00 The Discipline of Questioning23:58 The Ethics of Machine Deception25:30 Replacing Human Players27:06 The Limits of Machine Dialogue28:11 The Role of Doubt in Human Dialogue28:35 The Responsibility of Inventors29:56 Persistent Questions and Personal Reflections31:53 The Nature of Human Thought32:44 Protecting Human Qualities34:06 The Value of Human Doubt37:11 The Future of Human Questions38:36 The Risk of Seamless Imitation39:57 Reflections on the Interview and Takeaways47:50 Final Thoughts and Gratitude Resources MentionedThe Britons ProtectionSherborne SchoolKing’s College, CambridgeOn Computable Numbers (Turing's proof)Government Code and Cypher SchoolBletchley ParkEnigma machineBombeNational Physical LaboratoryAutomatic Computing EngineUniversity of ManchesterManchester Mark IMorphogenesisArnold MurrayOscar WildeComputing Machinery and IntelligenceImitation Game/Turing TestPia LauritzenDear Turing, I Have a Test For You by Pia LauritzenH.G. WellsGross Indecency LawBeauty PillProducer Ben Ford Questions AskedCan machines think?When did you first understand the power of questions?How did this intoxication influence your willingness to unleash your mind to solve further problems that could change the way we encounter the universe?Was it all at once or more gradually?How do you handle questions that change under your hands?Is that from scientific training, strict pursuit of the answer, failed experiments, where did you learn that ability?Where, for you, do questions and beauty intersect?What is your practice for driving to profound questions?Questions that trouble multiple disciplines, can you say more?Do you encounter much in the way of ineffective questions, or those you would determine as simply wrong questions?How do you break the habit of pursuing the wrong target?What informs your discipline to not look in the seemingly easy question, but to dig deeper for the better question?Might I buy the next round in gratitude for your initial buy?Is this just going to be part of the design by default?Have you imagined how people might one day extend this idea to perhaps replace players B or even C?Where do you see the limits of a machine’s role in human dialogue?If a machine can convincingly simulate a human, do we have a responsibility to set boundaries for its use — or is that not for the inventor to decide?Are there questions you’ve carried with you since your youth, perhaps questions that have stayed no matter how your answers change?Are you journaling to interact with these questions or, perhaps, depending on circumstances, to engage with them?What do you think is most important for humans to protect in themselves?Can you go deeper on perhaps the benefits of human doubt?What is your Right Now Question?Since you knew we’d be talking about questions, is there anything you hoped we’d touch on that we haven’t?What aspects of your own questioning process are you inadvertently trying to optimize away?In your daily interactions, when are you settling for the efficiency of information exchange instead of risking the messiness and potential transformation of genuine dialogue?What fundamental questions about human nature, consciousness, or meaning are you already asking less frequently because AI has made certain assumptions feel inevitable?How might you transform your questioning practice from a tool for getting answers into a discipline for staying human in an increasingly artificial world?

Ver todos los episodios