Turing Believes Machines Think Hamilton - IOCSF Best of the Zest

Commissioned by the Sydney Gay & Lesbian Choir

Performed live by IOCSF on June 10, 2023 as part of the "Best of the Zest! A Concert of Audience Favorites;" conducted by Chris Filice; Zane Fiala, Artistic Director.

From composer Gordon Hamilton:

"...a setting of a passage from a letter written by British Mathematician and computer pioneer Alan Turing. Turing signed the letter to his friend with a syllogism expressing his fear that his life’s work will be overshadowed or even disproven by his sexuality and prosecution for ‘gross indecency’:

Turing believes machines think
Turing lies with men
Therefore machines do not think
Yours in distress, Alan.

Even in the 1940s, Turing foresaw that machines could be made to think! I get goosebumps thinking about it… I’ve tried to make the choir sound a bit like a machine (actually in the same tempo as his famous ‘Bombe’ machine, used to crack the Enigma code). I also based the main motif on Shostakovich’s D-S-C-H theme: the State quashes the Individual… Turing died of a probable suicide soon after this letter."

Video by Zach Miley Productions