Historical Background: Turings Paper Machine aA second antecedent to the Chinese Room argument is the idea of a paper machine, a computer implemented by a human this idea is found in the work of Alan Turing, for example in"Intelligent Machinery"(948). Turing writes there that he wrote a program for a"paper machine"to play chess. a paper machine is a kind of program, a series of simple steps like a computer program, but written in natural language (e. g, English), and followed by a human. The human operator of the paper chess-playing machine need not (otherwise)know how to play chess. All the operator does is follow the instructions for generating moves on the chess board In fact, the operator need not even know that he or she is involved in playing chess--the input and output strings, such as"QKP2-QKP3"need mean nothing to the operator of the paper machine a Turing was optimistic that computers themselves would soon be able to exhibit apparently intelligent behavior, answering questions posed in English and carrying on conversations. Turing(1950)proposed what is now known as the Turing Test: if a computer could pass for human in on-line chat, it should be counted as intelligent A second antecedent to the Chinese Room argument is the idea of a paper machine, a computer implemented by a human. This idea is found in the work of Alan Turing, for example in “Intelligent Machinery” (1948). Turing writes there that he wrote a program for a “paper machine” to play chess. A paper machine is a kind of program, a series of simple steps like a computer program, but written in natural language (e.g., English), and followed by a human. The human operator of the paper chess-playing machine need not (otherwise) know how to play chess. All the operator does is follow the instructions for generating moves on the chess board. In fact, the operator need not even know that he or she is involved in playing chess—the input and output strings, such as “QKP2–QKP3” need mean nothing to the operator of the paper machine.  Turing was optimistic that computers themselves would soon be able to exhibit apparently intelligent behavior, answering questions posed in English and carrying on conversations. Turing (1950) proposed what is now known as the Turing Test: if a computer could pass for human in on-line chat, it should be counted as intelligent. Historical Background: Turing's Paper Machine