Manchester Mark 1 - Cultural Impact

Cultural Impact

See also: History of artificial intelligence

The successful operation of the Manchester Mark 1 and its predecessor, the SSEM, was widely reported in the British press, which used the phrase "electronic brain" to describe the machines. Lord Louis Mountbatten had earlier introduced that term in a speech delivered to the British Institution of Radio Engineers on 31 October 1946, in which he speculated about how the primitive computers then available might evolve. The excitement surrounding the reporting in 1949 of what was the first recognisably modern computer provoked a reaction unexpected by its developers; Sir Geoffrey Jefferson, professor of neurosurgery at the University of Manchester, on being asked to deliver the Lister Oration on 9 June 1949 chose "The Mind of Mechanical Man" as his subject. His purpose was to "debunk" the Manchester project. In his address he said:

Not until a machine can write a sonnet or compose a concerto because of thoughts and emotions felt, and not by the chance fall of symbols, could we agree that machine equals brain – that is, not only write it but know that it had written it. No machine could feel pleasure at its success, grief when its valves fuse, be warmed by flattery, be made miserable by its mistakes, be charmed by sex, be angry or miserable when it cannot get what it wants.

The Times reported on Jefferson's speech the following day, adding that Jefferson forecast that "the day would never dawn when the gracious rooms of the Royal Society would be converted into garages to house these new fellows". This was interpreted as a deliberate slight to Newman, who had secured a grant from the society to continue the work of the Manchester team. In response Newman wrote a follow-up article for The Times, in which he claimed that there was a close analogy between the structure of the Mark 1 and the human brain. His article included an interview with Turing, who added:

This is only a foretaste of what is to come, and only the shadow of what is going to be. We have to have some experience with the machine before we really know its capabilities. It may take years before we settle down to the new possibilities, but I do not see why it should not enter any of the fields normally covered by the human intellect and eventually compete on equal terms.