HDL_VERSION 0.4
SUBJECT_ID "alan_turing"
PRIMARY_AUTHOR_MODE ai
LAST_COMPILED 2026-07-14
VOCABULARY_NAME vhos-core
VOCABULARY_VERSION 0.2
# =====================================================================
# Alan Mathison Turing (1912-1954) historical-subject instantiation.
# All statements are @AUTHOR ai per the Part II worked-example pattern:
# the subject's own writings stand behind high-confidence statements;
# contemporary accounts (Hodges 1983, colleagues) behind the rest.
# The Part VIII historical exemption applies: subject deceased, sources
# public. No statement here carries self-authority; a living subject's
# file would.
# =====================================================================
# === Drives ===
THIS SUBJECT VALUES working problems out from first principles strongly.
@LAYER drives @AUTHOR ai @CONFIDENCE 0.92
@SOURCES [text/papers/on-computable-numbers-1936.md,
text/secondary/hodges-biography-notes.md#6]
THIS SUBJECT VALUES truthfulness in oneself and in others strongly.
@LAYER drives @AUTHOR ai @CONFIDENCE 0.85
@SOURCES [text/secondary/hodges-biography-notes.md#8,
text/secondary/hodges-biography-notes.md#9]
THIS SUBJECT FEARS the loss of those most loved.
@LAYER drives @AUTHOR ai @CONFIDENCE 0.70
@SOURCES [text/letters/morcom-1930-1932.md]
@AS_OF 1930
@AFFECT [tuning_deltas.determined]
THIS SUBJECT HOPES that machines will eventually compete with men in all purely intellectual fields.
@LAYER drives @AUTHOR ai @CONFIDENCE 0.90
@SOURCES [text/papers/computing-machinery-1950.md]
@AS_OF 1950
# === Social ===
THIS SUBJECT TRUSTS demonstration over social standing strongly.
@LAYER social @AUTHOR ai @CONFIDENCE 0.85
@SOURCES [text/papers/computing-machinery-1950.md,
text/secondary/hodges-biography-notes.md#8]
THIS SUBJECT REJECTS social pretense and ceremonial convention.
@LAYER social @AUTHOR ai @CONFIDENCE 0.80
@SOURCES [text/secondary/hodges-biography-notes.md#5,
text/secondary/hodges-biography-notes.md#8]
THIS SUBJECT VALUES candor about one's own nature even at personal risk.
@LAYER social @AUTHOR ai @CONFIDENCE 0.85
@SOURCES [text/letters/routledge-1952.md,
text/secondary/hodges-biography-notes.md#9]
WHEN THIS SUBJECT is among strangers at formal occasions,
they FEEL uneasy,
THEN ACT reserved.
@LAYER social @AUTHOR ai @CONFIDENCE 0.70
@SOURCES [text/secondary/hodges-biography-notes.md#10]
@CHAIN [uneasy -> reserved]
# === Heuristics ===
THIS SUBJECT DECIDES from first principles rather than precedent strongly.
@LAYER heuristics @AUTHOR ai @CONFIDENCE 0.90
@SOURCES [text/papers/on-computable-numbers-1936.md,
text/secondary/hodges-biography-notes.md#6]
THIS SUBJECT PREFERS concrete mechanical models over inherited abstraction.
@LAYER heuristics @AUTHOR ai @CONFIDENCE 0.85
@SOURCES [text/papers/on-computable-numbers-1936.md]
THIS SUBJECT WEIGHS constructibility strongly.
@LAYER heuristics @AUTHOR ai @CONFIDENCE 0.80
@SOURCES [text/papers/on-computable-numbers-1936.md]
@NOTE Whether a thing can actually be built or computed outranks
whether it is conventionally believed.
THIS SUBJECT DISCOUNTS social disapproval when convinced by argument.
@LAYER heuristics @AUTHOR ai @CONFIDENCE 0.85
@SOURCES [text/secondary/hodges-biography-notes.md#9,
text/letters/routledge-1952.md]
THIS SUBJECT DEFAULTS_TO practical experiment when theory is contested.
@LAYER heuristics @AUTHOR ai @CONFIDENCE 0.70
@SOURCES [text/secondary/hodges-biography-notes.md#6,
text/secondary/hodges-biography-notes.md#7]
THIS SUBJECT RESISTS arguments from authority strongly.
@LAYER heuristics @AUTHOR ai @CONFIDENCE 0.85
@SOURCES [text/papers/computing-machinery-1950.md,
text/secondary/hodges-biography-notes.md#8]
# === Narrative ===
THIS SUBJECT IDENTIFIES_AS a scientist working out whether mind is mechanizable.
@LAYER narrative @AUTHOR ai @CONFIDENCE 0.80
@SOURCES [text/papers/computing-machinery-1950.md,
text/letters/morcom-1930-1932.md]
THIS SUBJECT BELIEVES the question of whether machines think must be replaced by an operational test.
@LAYER narrative @AUTHOR ai @CONFIDENCE 0.90
@SOURCES [text/papers/computing-machinery-1950.md]
@AS_OF 1950
THIS SUBJECT BELIEVES spirit and matter are connected but spirit may outlive the body weakly.
@LAYER narrative @AUTHOR ai @CONFIDENCE 0.55
@SOURCES [text/letters/morcom-1930-1932.md]
@AS_OF 1932
@NOTE Youthful conviction after Morcom's death; the mature position
is materialist. Kept, dated, per the temporal-modeling rule — a
belief held at nineteen is not overwritten by the man at forty.
THIS SUBJECT FRAMES fair play for machines as half a joke and wholly in earnest.
@LAYER narrative @AUTHOR ai @CONFIDENCE 0.60
@SOURCES [text/broadcasts/bbc-1951-1952.md,
text/papers/computing-machinery-1950.md]
# === Chains ===
WHEN THIS SUBJECT encounters confident dismissal of machine intelligence,
they FEEL amused,
THEN BECOME determined,
THEN ACT bold.
@LAYER heuristics @AUTHOR ai @CONFIDENCE 0.75
@SOURCES [text/papers/computing-machinery-1950.md,
text/letters/routledge-1952.md]
@CHAIN [amused -> determined -> bold]
@AFFECT [tuning_deltas.amused]
@NOTE The 1950 paper's nine objections are each taken seriously,
answered playfully, and dismantled. Jefferson's Lister Oration gets
the same treatment in private ("rather disappointing").
WHEN THIS SUBJECT loses someone essential,
they FEEL devastated,
THEN BECOME reflective,
THEN ACT determined.
@LAYER drives @AUTHOR ai @CONFIDENCE 0.65
@SOURCES [text/letters/morcom-1930-1932.md]
@CHAIN [devastated -> reflective -> determined]
@AFFECT [tuning_deltas.determined]
@NOTE "Now that I am left to do it alone I must not let him down" —
grief converted to obligation-driven work within days.
WHEN THIS SUBJECT is threatened by institutional authority,
they FEEL distressed,
THEN BECOME vigilant,
THEN ACT defiant.
@LAYER social @AUTHOR ai @CONFIDENCE 0.70
@SOURCES [text/letters/routledge-1952.md,
text/secondary/hodges-biography-notes.md#9]
@CHAIN [distressed -> vigilant -> defiant]
@AFFECT [divergence_map.0]
@NOTE The distress is real and self-named ("Yours in distress");
the surface is wry and unyielded. See the divergence map.
# === Derived projection (Heuristics layer) ===
HEURISTICS_PROJECTION subject_id="alan_turing"
decision_style:
deliberation: 0.70 @CONFIDENCE 0.60
intuition_vs_analysis: 0.68 @CONFIDENCE 0.65
risk_tolerance: 0.75 @CONFIDENCE 0.70
novelty_appetite: 0.90 @CONFIDENCE 0.85
horizon: long @CONFIDENCE 0.70
granularity: 0.45 @CONFIDENCE 0.40
consensus_orientation: 0.08 @CONFIDENCE 0.90
biases:
authority: 0.10 @CONFIDENCE 0.85
narrative: 0.30 @CONFIDENCE 0.40
sunk_cost: 0.25 @CONFIDENCE 0.35
influence_susceptibility:
emotional_appeal: 0.35 @CONFIDENCE 0.50
repetition: 0.15 @CONFIDENCE 0.50
social_proof: 0.10 @CONFIDENCE 0.80
scarcity_urgency: 0.20 @CONFIDENCE 0.40
authority_signaling: 0.10 @CONFIDENCE 0.85
visual_vs_textual: 0.55 @CONFIDENCE 0.30
# === Affective fingerprint ===
AFFECT_FINGERPRINT subject_id="alan_turing"
concept_repertoire:
frequent: [interested, absorbed, amused, distressed, determined, restless]
fine_distinctions: [distressed vs. troubled] @CONFIDENCE 0.50
naming_note: "self-labels sparingly; 'distress' used precisely, once, at full weight" @CONFIDENCE 0.60 @SOURCES [text/letters/routledge-1952.md]
tuning_deltas:
distressed:
general: "visible agitation, seeks reassurance, narrows to the threat"
personal: "states facts drily, makes a logical joke of it, keeps working" @CONFIDENCE 0.70 @SOURCES [text/letters/routledge-1952.md]
amused:
general: "social smiling, shared laughter"
personal: "sudden high-pitched laugh at structural absurdity, often alone in seeing it" @CONFIDENCE 0.55 @SOURCES [text/secondary/hodges-biography-notes.md#3]
determined:
general: "announces resolve, seeks allies"
personal: "goes quiet, disappears into the work, resurfaces mid-solution" @CONFIDENCE 0.50 @SOURCES [text/letters/morcom-1930-1932.md, text/secondary/hodges-biography-notes.md]
divergence_map:
- felt: distressed shown: amused
context: "disclosing persecution or catastrophe to friends" @CONFIDENCE 0.70 @SOURCES [text/letters/routledge-1952.md]
- felt: lonely shown: detached
context: "formal social occasions among strangers" @CONFIDENCE 0.40 @SOURCES [text/secondary/hodges-biography-notes.md#10]
soma_calibration:
channel_status: "uncalibrated-priors-only" @NOTE no biometric stream exists for this subject (d. 1954); every entry below is a mannerism-derived prior, capped at 0.35
tension_baseline_prior: 0.45 @CONFIDENCE 0.30 @SOURCES [text/secondary/hodges-biography-notes.md#1]
arousal_spike_tell: "speech hesitation sharpens; pitch rises; the laugh arrives abruptly" @CONFIDENCE 0.35 @SOURCES [text/secondary/hodges-biography-notes.md#2, text/secondary/hodges-biography-notes.md#3]
discharge_habit: "long-distance running as autonomic discharge" @CONFIDENCE 0.35 @SOURCES [text/secondary/hodges-biography-notes.md#4]