"Moreover, it must be confessed that perception and that which depends upon it are inexplicable on mechanical grounds, that is to say, by means of figures and motions. And supposing there were a machine, so constructed as to think, feel, and have perception, it might be conceived as increased in size, while keeping the same proportions, so that one might go into it as into a mill. That being so, we should, on examining its interior, find only parts which work one upon another, and never anything by which to explain a perception. Thus it is in a simple substance, and not in a compound or in a machine, that perception must be sought for." (Gottfried W Leibniz, "Monadology", 1714)
"The machine is only a tool after all, which can help humanity progress faster by taking some of the burdens of calculations and interpretations off its back. The task of the human brain remains what it has always been; that of discovering new data to be analyzed, and of devising new concepts to be tested." (Isaac Asimov, "I, Robot", 1950)
"Let an ultraintelligent machine be defined as a machine that can far surpass all the intellectual activities of any man however clever. Since the design of machines is one of these intellectual activities, an ultraintelligent machine could design even better machines; there would then unquestionably be an 'intelligence explosion:, and the intelligence of man would be left far behind. Thus the first ultraintelligent machine is the last invention that man need ever make." (Irving J Good, "Speculations Concerning the First Ultraintelligent Machine", Advances in Computers Vol. 6, 1965)
"The idea of making machines that think has an unfailing fascination, not only for science fiction readers, but for all who can see it is a possible way of gaining some understanding of the working of our own minds. Thinking, however, is not an easily defined phenomenon, although it is often considered to be the process of solving problems." (Edward Ihnatowicz, "The Relevance of Manipulation to the Process of Perception", 1977)
"If cognitive processes can be realized in a general machine then it is possible to execute mental operations in artifacts that are not necessarily subject to the embarrassing spatio-temporal limitations and structural frailties of a biological processor." (Gordon Pask, "Conversation, Cognition and Learnin", 1975)
"It's difficult to be rigorous about whether a machine really 'knows', 'thinks', etc., because we're hard put to define these things. We understand human mental processes only slightly better than a fish understands swimming." (John McCarthy, "The Little Thoughts of Thinking Machines, Psychology Today", 1983)
"Under pressure from the computer, the question of mind in relation to machine is becoming a central cultural preoccupation." (Sherry Turkle, "The Second Self: Computers and the Human Spirit", 1984)
"The hardest problems we have to face do not come from philosophical questions about whether brains are machines or not. There is not the slightest reason to doubt that brains are anything other than machines with enormous numbers of parts that work in perfect accord with physical laws. As far as anyone can tell, our minds are merely complex processes. The serious problems come from our having had so little experience with machines of such complexity that we are not yet prepared to think effectively about them." (Marvin Minsky, 1986)
"Either mathematics is too big for the human mind, or the human mind is more than a machine." (Kurt Gödel)
"The whole thinking process is rather mysterious to us, but I believe that the attempt to make a thinking machine will help us greatly in finding out how we think ourselves." (Alan M Turing)
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