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"The first edition of this book was one of the first to offer a serious study of the historical connections between logic and modern computing. It situates the development of the first computers within a scientific rather than a technological history: it tells the story of the life and work of a number of well-known logicians and how these established, in retrospect, part of the theoretical foundations of the modern computer. This third edition contains extensions and corrections of the first and second editions, including the addition of an Appendix on Cantor and Kronecker, correcting a dominant historical narrative in which both actors are played out against each other; a discussion of the advances that have been made with so-called deep learning techniques and a further extension of the chapter on Gödel.The book is highly accessible and engaging. It explains several basic mathematical and logical notions in an exceptionally clear and comprehensive manner. These are developed throughout the different stories of the people behind those notions. Moreover, it is against the background of this history of logical ideas, that Martin Davis enters into a more philosophical discussion with respect to advances in AI and so-called deep learning in the final chapter of the book. This book is thus a must-read not just for anyone who is willing to gain a better understanding of some of the basic logical principles behind our contemporary computing devices but also for those scholars who want to engage more deeply with the basic question of the connection between the history of computer science and its relation to logic and foundations of mathematics."—Liesbeth De Mol, Université de Lille"This book about computers is like no other. It is now in a 2018 edition, after a first publication in 2000. The update reflects some recent developments, for example the recent success of champion-beating computer Go playing. But the main purpose of this book is to describe all possible developments — past, present and future. It is about the core property of the computer, that makes it possible for a single machine to switch between Go-playing, facial recognition, displaying webpages and searching for extra-terrestrial life — and infinitely more. This is the universal nature of the computer, which every application now takes for granted.Thought rooted far back in the scientific revolution, the book focuses on the extraordinary discoveries of the 1930s and 1940s, when the concept of the universal machine emerged. This discovery, arising out of the purest research in mathematics, might be compared with the elucidation of atomic fission and DNA structure — dependent on highly non-obvious detail yet transforming the world. The Universal Computer springs from one of the very few people who after a long life can speak first-hand of how this transforming concept arose, with an authoritative account of the essential features. Martin Davis was himself a major contributor to the mathematical theory of computing and in at the beginning of the first electronic computers. For the more specialist reader, this book offers a pugnacious assertion of a computational philosophy of mind, and makes a contribution to the history of science which asserts the primacy of mathematical and logical ideas over engineering implementation. The more general reader will find Martin Davis an expert story-teller. He conveys the magic of the pioneer period, and he places it within a broad picture of human history and of its individual contributors. Foremost is the fascinating figure of Alan Turing, who first defined the universal machine concept, but who also set out the prospects for Artificial Intelligence. As Martin Davis mentions, Turing’s discussion of the potential of computers for chess-playing began in 1941, and the deep questions about mind and machine, as are so often argued about today, were well aired from the start. Computers are now cheaper and faster tha...
