Codes are a puzzle. A game, just like any other game.

No, I'm not interested in developing a powerful brain.

A man provided with paper, pencil, and rubber, and subject to strict discipline, is in effect a universal machine.

I believe that at the end of the century the use of words and general educated opinion will have altered so much that one will be able to speak of machines thinking without expecting to be contradicted.

No, I'm not interested in developing a powerful brain. All I'm after is just a mediocre brain, something like the President of the American Telephone and Telegraph Company.

Up to a point, it is better to just let the snags [bugs] be there than to spend such time in design that there are none.

Bell Labs Cafeteria, New York, 1943: His high pitched voice already stood out above the general murmur of well-behaved junior executives grooming themselves for promotion within the Bell corporation. Then he was suddenly heard to say: "No, I'm not interested in developing a powerful brain. All I'm after is just a mediocre brain, something like the President of the American Telephone and Telegraph Company."