英语学习

Turing Award

Just a heads-up: this award might be one of the nerdiest ones you've ever heard of.

Most of its laureates were or are academic fellows at high-ranking universities such as MIT, Princeton, or Cambridge.

Some of them worked or are working with top-notch tech corporations like Microsoft, Google, or Facebook.

As you can see, the subject of the award is not rousing music or entertaining novels.

Instead, it is aimed at achievements "of lasting and major technical importance to the computer field."

The glitz and glamor that accompany the ceremonies of the Oscars or Grammys are absent here.

The nail-biting tension and intense competition that lead up to the most coveted literary awards like the Man Booker Prize or the Hugo Awards are not as often sighted in the equable realm of computer science.

Things are a bit quieter and more understated here, even though the impact its winners cast on the world is thunderous and substantial.

It's named after the father of theoretical computer science and artificial intelligence, Alan Turing,

whose legendary yet tragic life was once translated into a biographical movie, The Imitation Game.

It cast Benedict Cumberbatch to play the prodigiously talented and complicated genius. Yes, you heard me right.

Born in 1912 in London, Turing was reared up in a family of moderately high social standing.

The makeup of his family was the very embodiment of the intertwining forces of science and religion at that time, with one of his grandfathers being a clergyman and the other an engineer.

Turing displayed an extraordinary talent in maths and science when he was at school.

Even though not all of his teachers encouraged his scientific inclination, his gift was too bright to be obscured.

He went on to study mathematics as an undergrad at Cambridge.

Later on, during WWII, his genius was discovered by British Intelligence, which resulted in his deep involvement in its mission to crack Germany's indecipherable code.

His contribution to the counter-intelligence effort proved to have saved thousands of lives.

But his genius wasn't confined within code cracking.

He soared higher in the field of computer science and artificial intelligence, even mathematical biology.

Perhaps his best-known achievement is the Turing Machine, a world-changing, computational model that harbingered the invention of computers, the concept of algorithm, and so much more.

So, I guess it is safe to assume that not only did he shorten the Second World War by years, he also sped up the development of computer science tremendously.

It's hard to imagine how much more he would have done if not for his indictment for homosexuality, a serious crime in the UK back then.

Incriminated, with his reputation darkened and his career undercut, he was found dead in his house two years later with an apple half-eaten by his bedside.

It was a premature death that had many people bemoaning it as a huge loss in human history.

It was said that Apple's logo, the bitten apple, was a homage to him.

The winners of the Turing Award in 2018 were three scientists who incorporated the way a human brain works into computing.

I watched an online interview with one of them, Mr. Hinton.

With a modest gesture and in a grateful tone, he mentioned that Turing already came up with the idea decades

图灵奖

提醒一下：这个奖项可能是你听过的最烂的奖项之一。

它的获奖者大多是或是麻省理工学院、普林斯顿或剑桥等高级大学的学术研究员。

他们中的一些人曾经或正在与微软、谷歌或Facebook等顶尖科技公司合作。

正如你所看到的，这个奖项的主题不是鼓舞人心的音乐或娱乐小说。

相反，它的目标是“对计算机领域具有持久和重大技术重要性”的成就

伴随着奥斯卡或格莱美颁奖典礼的浮华和魅力在这里是不存在的。

紧绷的紧张局势和激烈的竞争导致了最令人垂涎的文学奖项，如曼布克奖或雨果奖，在计算机科学的平庸领域中并不常见。

尽管它的赢家们给世界带来的影响是雷鸣般的、实质性的，但这里的情况却显得更加平静和低调。

它是以理论计算机科学和人工智能之父艾伦·图灵命名的，

他的传奇而悲惨的一生曾经被翻译成传记电影《模仿游戏》。

它让本尼迪克特·坎伯巴奇扮演了这个天才而复杂的天才。是的，你没听错。

图灵1912年出生于伦敦，成长于一个社会地位较高的家庭。

他的家庭构成正是当时科学和宗教交织力量的体现，他的祖父一个是牧师，另一个是工程师。

图灵上学时在数学和科学方面显示出非凡的天赋。

尽管不是所有的老师都鼓励他学习科学，但他的天赋太聪明了，不可掩盖。

他在剑桥大学读本科时继续学习数学。

后来，在第二次世界大战期间，他的天才被英国情报部门发现，这导致他深入参与了破解德国密码的任务。

事实证明，他对反情报工作的贡献挽救了数千人的生命。

但他的天才并不局限于破解代码。

他在计算机科学和人工智能领域，甚至数学生物学领域，都有了长足的进步。

也许他最著名的成就是图灵机器，一个改变世界的计算模型，预示着计算机的发明，算法的概念，等等。

所以，我认为可以肯定的是，他不仅缩短了第二次世界大战的时间，而且大大加快了计算机科学的发展。

很难想象，如果不是因为他对同性恋的指控，当时在英国是一个严重的犯罪，他会做更多的事情。

两年后，他被发现死在家里，床边吃了一半的苹果。

这是一个过早的死亡，许多人哀叹这是人类历史上的巨大损失。

据说苹果的标志，被咬的苹果，是对他的敬意。

2018年图灵奖的获得者是三位科学家，他们将人脑的工作方式融入了计算机。

我看了一个在线访谈，辛顿先生。

他用谦虚的姿态和感激的语气提到图灵已经想出了这个主意

美文阅读

㈠向导说：“急水难存，慢水深存。从上游快速下泄的洪水，很难在河道里留存下来；反倒是那些下过小雨的河道，变得泥泞难行。”

“急水难存，慢水深存。”这句话父亲也说过。父亲在老家浇地时，会掘一条长长的水沟，河水顺着弯弯曲曲的水沟缓缓地流到了菜园里。后来，我新开了一条宽敞的水沟，直接通到了菜地里，效率很高。父亲却指着两片长势不同的菜地说：“急水难存，你虽快，但菜只喝了个半饱，长势一般；而我浇地是静水深流，菜反倒能慢慢消化吸收，直到完全吸饱喝足，故长势旺盛。”

只有慢水深存，不着急，慢慢走路，人生才不会如一阵急流漫过，连一洼水都不曾留下。

㈡傍晚，一阵阵微风拂过我的前额，撩起我的领悟力，带来一丝说不清的朦胧抚慰（谈不上是抚慰，它太过轻柔）。我只知道，心头的沉闷有所变化，我得到片刻的安慰，就像一小片衣角不再摩擦我的痛处。

　　这空气的细微移动给我的多愁善感带来仅有的一点宁静！但是，人类的感觉也是如此，我怀疑，意外之财或意想不到的微笑对于别人的意义，比不上一缕清风对于我的意义。

　　我想睡觉，想做梦。我更清楚地看见客观存在的一切。生活的外在感觉令我感到更舒服。一切都因为我走近街角时，微风起了小变化，触到我的肌肤表面，令我心旷神怡。

　　我们爱或失去的一切——事物，人类或价值——摩挲着我们的皮肤，从而触到了我们的灵魂，在上帝眼中，不过是这微风，除了想象中的抚慰，适当的时刻，对一切美好的失去，什么也没带给我。

㈢不均会造成不平，不平会引发争斗，结果寡变得更寡，贫加上不安。这道理可以用在治国，也可以用在治家，甚至可以用在我们每一天的处世。越是拥有权势和财力的人，越要注意分配的方法，免得弄巧成拙，把“给的”变成“欠的”。人生百忌，忌不会给。