David Deutsch asks Grok: could any AI have predicted Turing machines pre-1920s?
AlexTensor · x · 2026-10-12
Oxford physicist David Deutsch posed a thought experiment to Grok on X: before the 1920s, could anyone—or an AI with present-day technology magically available—have guessed that solving Hilbert's Entscheidungsproblem required inventing Turing machines and proving theorems about a universal one and which machines halt? The question implies genuine breakthroughs demand conceptual invention beyond reasoning within existing frames, fueling debate on whether AI can make truly original scientific leaps.
Related event: Deutsch and Grok Debate Whether AI Can Achieve Turing-Level Breakthroughs(2 posts)→
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