#44 AI Alan Turing: What Machines Can’t Imitate - On Questions, Doubt, and the Discipline of Curiosity

"I suspect beauty comes when a question both sharpens and enlarges your vision." - AI Alan Turing

In this special episode, we step back to a cold December night in 1951 and into the warm, wood-paneled room of The Britons Protection, a historic Manchester pub. Across the table sits Alan Turing, the mathematician, wartime codebreaker, and one of the founding figures of computer science, who is brought to life through an AI simulation.

Best known for his role at Bletchley Park during World War II, Turing devised techniques and machines, including the Bombe, that cracked the German Enigma code and helped shorten the war by years. His groundbreaking 1936 paper on “computable numbers” introduced the concept of the universal machine, and became the theoretical foundation for modern computers. Later, at the University of Manchester, he advanced early computing, explored artificial intelligence, and even pioneered mathematical biology.

Our imagined conversation, grounded in historical detail and Turing’s own writings, delves into his enduring fascination with questions: how to ask them, when to abandon them, and why some are worth carrying for a lifetime. We discuss the interplay between beauty and inquiry, the discipline required to avoid seductive but unproductive lines of thought, and the place of doubt as an essential human strength.

We also revisit his famous “imitation game” — now known as the Turing Test — and consider the boundaries of machine intelligence, the dangers of mistaking simulation for genuine dialogue, and the questions that only humans can keep alive, all while wrestling with the meta question, "Is this machine thinking?"

This episode blends history, philosophy, and imagination while inviting you to consider what it means to think, to doubt, and to remain fully human in an age of advancing machines.

This Curated Questions episode can be found on all major platforms and at CuratedQuestions.com.

Keep questioning!

#43 Dr. Jemayne King: The Scholar Who Sees Literature in Sneakers, Hip-Hop, and Gaming

"It is much safer to be vulnerable than you might think." - Ashley Kirsner

Ashley is the founder and director of Skip the Small Talk, and believes in the efficacy of high-quality person-to-person interaction for improving psychological health. She has conducted research with professors at prestigious organizations such as Cornell University, the Harvard Decision Science Lab, and the Harvard Business School, on social and clinical psychology topics ranging from decision-making and implicit biases to facial expressions in borderline personality disorder patients.

Ashley gained hands-on therapeutic experience as a suicide hotline phone responder and as a peer counselor at Cornell. Ashley received her B.A. in Psychology from Cornell University and turned down acceptances to doctorate programs in order to devote her time to Skip the Small Talk. She received a fellowship from the Harvard Divinity School for individuals who have demonstrated a social impact in the domain of creating meaningful communities. Skip The Small Talk events are regularly held internationally, as well as an online options.

In this engaging episode of 'Curated Questions,' host Ken Woodward sits down with Ashley Kirsner, the founder and director of 'Skip the Small Talk.' They explore the transformative power of meaningful conversations, the science behind vulnerability, and the surprising benefits of structured social interactions.

Ashley shares her experiences from the suicide hotline, her inspiration for starting 'Skip the Small Talk,' and how intentional question design can foster deeper human connections. The conversation also delves into the physiological benefits of social interactions, ethical considerations in community building, and the importance of creating safe spaces for vulnerability. Tune in to learn how these insights can help you build stronger, more authentic relationships in your own life.

This Curated Questions episode can be found on all major platforms and at CuratedQuestions.com.

Keep questioning!

#31 Kevin Kelly: The Future Belongs to the Question-Makers

Host Ken Woodward talks with Kevin Kelly, who shares his insights on the power of questioning for personal and societal growth, discussing the role of questions in driving innovation and fostering understanding. He emphasizes the importance of inefficiency and exploration in formulating impactful questions, contrasting this with AI's tendency to provide average answers. Kelly also discusses his long-term projects, such as the 10,000-year clock with the Long Now Foundation, emphasizing the importance of long-term thinking and striking a balance between stability and adaptability. The discussion highlights the value of embracing disequilibrium for intellectual and technological advancement and challenges the notion of productivity by suggesting that waste and failure are integral to the discovery process.