Thanks for the reference to Edgar Allan Poe's essay on the Mechanical Turk, that was a fun read. So right about some things and so wrong about others :) """ Th

Thanks for the reference to Edgar Allan Poe's essay on the Mechanical Turk, that was a fun read. So right about some things and so wrong about others :) """ The Automaton does not invariably win the game. Were the machine a pure machine this would not be the case — it would always win. The principle being discovered by which a machine can be made to play a game of chess, an extension of the same principle would enable it to win a game — a farther extension would enable it to win all games — that is, to beat any possible game of an antagonist. A little consideration will convince any one that the difficulty of making a machine beat all games, is not in the least degree greater, as regards the principle of the operations necessary, than that of making it beat a single game. """