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Ask HN: Reccomend essays to a young, inquiring mind

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Re: Ask HN: Reccomend essays to a young, inquiring mind

#11
"Computing Machinery and Intelligence", A.M. Turing, 1950. This is where the Turing Test comes from. Technically a journal paper, but reads more like an essay.

If you're into computers at all, this is a must read. Alan Turing not only gave us modern computer science, he also kicked off the field of Artificial Intelligence with this groundbreaking paper. He opens it with the question "Can machines think?", and then proceeds to examine it from every conceivable angle. Not only does he predict strong AI, but Turing also provides methods of development and a robust framework for testing it.

This paper's massively important, but it's also a pretty good read. It's about 20 pages long, written in reasonably accessible style, and requires no serious mathematical background. Turing was an amazingly clear thinker, and that really comes through. There's also a lot of sly humor embedded in there. If you're looking for brain candy, this one's a gem.

There's a copy at http://www.loebner.net/Prizef/TuringArticle.html

Re: Ask HN: Reccomend essays to a young, inquiring mind

#12
Clay Shirky "Newspapers and Thinking the Unthinkable"... the invention of the internet has destroyed the cultural standard bearer's authority (NYT, MSM, etc) just like the invention of the printing press destroyed the Catholic Church's authority. It is impossible to say how it will play out because no one knows what institutions will form to replace the old institutions, i.e., we are in the early stages of the greatest social/cultural revolution in the history of western civ. Most people don't seem to grasp the import of Shirky's theme, they think its about the death of the newspapers.

Ayn Rand... many, many articles but three favorites of mine are "Egalitarianism and Inflation" and "Art and Moral Treason" and "The Anatomy of Compromise".

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