Alan Turing, a British mathematician, is also a well‐known scientist considered by many as the father of theoretical computer sciences. Let us investigate him.Read the entry “Alan Turing” from The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy [16].Establish the historical background of Turing's seminal work On computable numbers, with an application to the Entscheidungsproblem [17] following Example 1.4 in Section 1.4. This is the first paragraph of the text: The ‘computable’ numbers may be described briefly as the real numbers whose expressions as a decimal are calculable by finite means. Although the subject of this paper is ostensibly the computable numbers, it is almost equally easy to define and investigate computable functions of an integral variable or a real or computable variable, computable predicates, and so forth. The fundamental problems involved are, however, the same in each case, and I have chosen the computable numbers for explicit treatment as involving the least cumbrous technique. I hope shortly to give an account of the relations of the computable numbers, functions, and so forth to one another. This will include a development of the theory of functions of a real variable expressed in terms of computable numbers. According to my definition, a number is computable if its decimal can be written down by a machine.Discuss the relation between the work presented in (b) with the more philosophically leaned (speculative) Computing Machinery and Intelligence [18]. This is the first paragraph of the text: I propose to consider the question, “Can machines think?” This should begin with definitions of the meaning of the terms “machine” and “think”. The definitions might be framed so as to reflect so far as possible the normal use of the words, but this attitude is dangerous. If the meaning of the words “machine” and “think” are to be found by examining how they are commonly used it is difficult to escape the conclusion that the meaning and the answer to the question, “Can machines think?” is to be sought in a statistical survey such as a Gallup poll. But this is absurd. Instead of attempting such a definition I shall replace the question by another, which is closely related to it and is expressed in relatively unambiguous words.
References
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2 System
This first part of the book focuses on the main theoretical concepts that are the necessary raw material to construct the theory of cyber‐physical systems to be proposed in the second part of the book. In this chapter, we begin this journey with the concept of system. The idea is to review the different meanings of the word, starting from the dictionary definition and moving toward a more technical one, which is used in the discipline of Systems Engineering. From there, a general method to organically demarcate the boundaries of a particular functioning system and everything else (i.e. its environment) will be proposed. We will further postulate the conditions of the existence of that particular functioning system as such. These conditions are divided into three levels that articulate the relation between that particular system and its environment. Different ways to classify systems will also be presented followed by an initial analysis of Maxwell's demon – a well‐known thought experiment that was proposed to challenge the second law of thermodynamics. With this chapter, we aim to clarify the relation between the scientific domain whose object is a functioning system in general and its possible particular material realizations. In this sense, we argue that this theoretical methodology is essential not only to scientifically understand systems in general but also to engineer new or rectify particular existing systems.
2.1 Introduction
Let me start by showing a dialogue I had with my 5‐year‐old daughter:
What is a car?
It is a system designed to take people from one place to another, in a faster way and with less effort than walking.
What is a system?
Well (…), in this case, it is a machine composed of things working together to perform some action.
And, in the other cases?
My goal in this brief section is to provide satisfactory answers to these two questions in italics. The first step is to check which are the definitions of “system” that the dictionary gives.
Definition 2.1 System in [1] (1) A regularly interacting or interdependent group of items forming a unified whole; (2) an organized set of doctrines, ideas, or principles usually intended to explain the arrangement or working of a systematic whole; (3a) an organized or established procedure; (3b) a manner of classifying, symbolizing, or schematizing; (4) harmonious arrangement or pattern; (5) an organized society or social situation regarded as stultifying or oppressive.
It
