Two Introductions to Cybernetics
Knowledge graph · Formal / computational
Formal / computational

Turing machine

Turing's abstract two-way tape automaton that formalises the notion of effective computation and underlies the digital computer.


In John F. Young, Cybernetics (1969)
Ch. 8 · Logic and Games

Young mentions Turing chiefly as a pioneer who used introspection — studying his own thought while playing chess — to build his chess machine.

In F. H. George, Cybernetics (1971)
Ch. 4 & 6 · Automata Theory / Digital Computers

George presents the Turing machine as a tape automaton, finite or infinite, equivalent to a digital computer given access to all the tape it has processed.


Builds on

Automata theory

Leads to

Digital computer

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