ABSTRACT
Digital computers can readily be programmed to exhibit modes of behavior which are usually associated only with the nervous systems of living organisms. This paper describes a concrete example of one practical technique by which the Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator (EDSAC) of the University mathematical Laboratory, Cambridge, was made capable of modifying its behavior on the basis of experience acquired In the course of operation.
Techniques of this type may have some value for those who, like psychologists and neurophysiologists, are interested In the potentialities of existing digital computers as models of the structure and of the functions of animal nervous systems. The description will be given in two stages. In the first stage (Section 2) the behavior of the EDSAC under the control of a response learning program will be presented from the point of view of an experimenter who can control the input of the machine and observe its output, but who is denied access to its internal mechanism. This point of view corresponds to that of an experimenter who attempts to deduce the structure and the internal mode of operation of an animal organism from controlled observations of its functions. In the second stage (Section 3), the factors determining the behavior of the machine are revealed, and are analyzed from the privileged point of view of the designer of the learning program.
- 1.Oettinger, A. G. (in press), Phil. Mag., "Programming a Digital Computer to Learn"Google Scholar
- 2.Turing, A. M., 1950, Mind, 59, 453-460, "Computing Machinery and Intelligence"Google Scholar
- 3.Wilkes, M. V., 1951, Spectator, No. 6424, 177-178, "Can Machines Think?"Google Scholar
- 4.Wilkes, M. V., Wheeler, D. J., and Gill, S., 1951, "The Preparation of Programs for an Electronic Digital Computer," Cambridge, Mass., Addison-Wesley Google ScholarDigital Library
Index Terms
- Simple learning by a digital computer
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