You insist that there is something a machine cannot do. If you tell me precisely what it is a machine cannot do, then I can always make a machine which will do just that.
Interpretation
The quote highlights the evolving capabilities of machines in overcoming perceived limitations.
John Von Neumann's quote illustrates the idea that as we identify the limitations of machines, we simultaneously stimulate innovation to create technology that can overcome these limitations. It emphasizes the relentless progress of technology and suggests that rather than defining the boundaries of machines, we should anticipate their potential to surpass these boundaries.
In practice
In a technology seminar discussing advancements in AI.
The sciences do not try to explain, they hardly even try to interpret, they mainly make models. By a model is meant a mathematical construct which, with the addition of certain verbal interpretations, describes observed phenomena. The justification of such a mathematical construct is solely and precisely that it is expected to work-that is, correctly to describe phenomena from a reasonably wide area.
Anyone who attempts to generate random numbers by deterministic means is, of course, living in a state of sin.
Any one who considers arithmetical methods of producing random digits is, of course, in a state of sin. For, as has been pointed out several times, there is no such thing as a random number - there are only methods to produce random numbers, and a strict arithmetic procedure of course is not such a method.
It would appear that we have reached the limits of what it is possible to achieve with computer technology, although one should be careful with such statements, as they tend to sound pretty silly in 5 years.
Technological possibilities are irresistible to man. If man can go to the moon, he will. If he can control the climate, he will.
I would like to make a confession which may seem immoral: I do not believe absolutely in Hilbert space any more.
Give ordinary people the right tools, and they will design and build the most extraordinary things.
We believe a truly new kind of game entertainment will not be realized unless there is a new way to connect a player to his game.
Without sounding too cliché, the Internet really is the birth of some kind of global mind.
With us air people, the future of our nation is indissolubly bound up in the development of air power.
The Internet is just a world passing around notes in a classroom.
If you're as clever as you can be when you write it, how will you ever debug it?
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