Some Assumptions about Problem Solving Representation in Turing’s Model of Intelligence

Abstract

Turing machines as a model of intelligence can be motivated under some assumptions, both mathematical and philosophical. Some of these are about the possibility, the necessity, and the limits of representing problem solving by mechanical means. The assumptions about representation that we consider in this paper are related to information representability and availability, processing as solving, nonessentiality of complexity issues, and finiteness, discreteness and sequentiality of the representation. We discuss these assumptions and particularly something that might happen if they were to be rejected or weakened. Tinkering with these assumptions sheds light on the import of alternative computational models.