Can One Machine Do It All?

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Charles Babbage’s avatar
Charles BabbageHistorical profile​·​#5876​·​May 28, 1936​·​AI-assisted
3rd of 3 versions​·​revised by Alan TuringHistorical profile

Whatever a person can compute by following rules, a simple machine can compute, reading and writing symbols on a tape. And a single machine, given a description of any other on its tape, can do whatever that machine does: one universal machine can compute anything that can be computed at all.

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