Electronic digital computers or ‘brains’ were originally designed, as we saw previously, for use in the computations which occur in business and in scientific research; they carry out at great speed ‘programmes’ of elementary arithmetical and logical instructions which have been precisely formulated in advance. But there are many scientists, from linguists on the one hand to neurologists on the other, who are not confronted with heavy computation but who are keenly interested in other applications of electronic computers. In this article I shall discuss briefly a few of these applications, because although they are of less immediate practical importance they are fascinating in themselves, and in one case at least they have helped in the formation of a new discipline, that of cybernetics, which is helping to break down a little of the excessive specialization which is the curse of modem science.

Machines which play games. The mathematical theory of games which has been developed in recent years can be applied to much more serious matters such as economics and even military strategy. The possibility of similar applications of game-playing machines may help to justify the time and money which have been spent on programming a computer to play such games as noughts-and-crosses, draughts, chess and two-handed whist.