This third symbol indicates the pathological symptoms about which we have no information at all.

I do so here with a diffidence that will need no explanation to anyone whose ideas have been on the move for ten years. I am only thankful - and a little surprised - to find as much as I do with which I - and apparently others - now agree.

I am quite ready to subscribe to the already mentioned slogan that "whatever a human being can do,an appropriate machine can do, too"; but I do this only because.I regard the slogan as utterly trivial. At the moment, I am not talking about what maohines could do in principle but only about what actually existing or blueprinted machines could do, and it Is with regard to these that I utter my definite opinions. If someone wishes to write sciencefiction about information-processing centres of the (undetermined) future, let him do so and I shall discuss it with him over a glass of beer and even offer some startling suggestions of my own. If he is interested in improving the literature search process today, I would strongly advise him to forget about mechanizing abstracting or indexing. May I add that it is with a good amount of sorrow that I have come to this conclusion which is quite counter, to my temperament and my convictions (never published) of a few years ago.

Particular attention is given to processes involving pattern recognition, learning, planning ahead, and the use of analogies or?models!. Also considered is the question of designing "administrative" procedures to manage the use of these other devices. The paper begins with a discussion of what is meant by "Intelligence" and concludes with a sec-- tion concerned with some techniques through which a machine might further improve itself by adding to Its collection of problem--solving methods. I. INTELLIGENCE I feel that it would not be useful to lay down any absolute defini-- tion of "intelligence" or of "intelligent behaviour". For our goals in trying to design "thinking machines" are constantly changing in relation to our ever--increasing resources in this area. Certainly there are many kinds of performances which if exhibited by a man we would all agree, today, require or manifest intelligence. But would we agree tomorrow?

... the technique of heuristic programmingis under detailed investigation as a means to the end of applying largescaledigital computers to the solution of a difficult class of problems currentlyconsidered to be beyond their capabilities; namely those problemsthat seem to require the agent of human intelligence and ingenuity fortheir solution. It is difficult to characterize such problems further, except,perhaps, to remark rather vaguely that they generally involve complexdecision processes in a potentially infinite and uncontrollable environment.If, however, we should restrict the universe of problems to those thatamount to the discovery of a proof for a theorem in some well-definedformal system, then the distinguishing characteristics of those problems ofspecial interest to us are brought clearly into focus.Proceedings of an International Conference on Information Processing. Paris:UNESCO House, 273-282.

The paper examines the extent to which a less mechanistic approach may be possible and suggests limitations that may be imposed not only by human limitations but by difficulties of correspondence and significance between machine and manual situations. 1. INTRODUCTION LET us assume that automatic data processing (A.D.P.) can do the things that we are planning for it to do at present, such as payroll, stores accounting, and statistical analyses. There will, of course, be many problems to be solved before these tasks can be regarded as satisfactorily completed, and before we can speak with confidence out of experience. But these problems do not appear to have any fundamentally insuperable content. The difficul-- ties are manmade rather than intrinsic. They originate in part from the difficulty of adjusting the organisms of office life to new rhythms, new environments, new relationships, in part from imperfect understanding and appreciation of the power and range of new techniques, and in part from a lack of perception of the limitations and deficiencies of these systems. We may reasonably suppose that, during the course of the next five years, these difficulties will be overcome and that, throughout Government Departments and Industry, there will be a growing number of installations at work on these jobs. With this perhaps over--simplified premise, it is not too early to start thinking about a possible future form of A.D.P. in Government Departments in, say, ten or fifteen years' time.

IBM Journal of Research and Development 2(1) pp. 1-13

Biometrics is a scientific journal emphasizing the role of statistics and mathematics in the biological sciences. Its object is to promote and extend the use of mathematical and statistical methods in pure and applied biological sciences by describing developments in these methods and their applications in a form readily assimilable by experimental scientists. JSTOR provides a digital archive of the print version of Biometrics. Authorized users may be able to access the full text articles at this site.

Proceedings of the Symposium on the Mechanisation of Thought Processes.Teddington, Middlesex, England: National Physical Laboratory.

Psychological Review, Vol. 65, pp. 386 ff.