Hey ChatGPT can you give a description of the cryptologist’s day at the National Museum of Computing?
Of course! Here is what the cryptologists were up to…
We started off the morning at the Euston Train station where we fueled up on coffee and pastries. The train transported us from the center of London to Bletchley Park where we walked to the National Museum of Computing!
This museum is a one-of-a-kind experience! We had the opportunity to tour the museum and see a working replica of the Bombe machine, which we have been studying in class. This machine was used to break German enigma codes during World War II and we loved being able to see the checking machine at work too. During our tour we also learned about the Lorenz Machine, the Colossus (one of the first computers) and other complex computers. It was incredible to see how much technology has evolved over the past couple decades. (For our older audience, wow! Those computers were HUGE back in the day!)
After lunch we dived into the world of AI and ethics. We pondered questions like how do we determine intelligence and does artificial intelligence have morals? As a group we discussed the trolley dilemma using MIT’s moral machine.
You can think about the trolley dilemma below...
While this led to a heated debate at times, we all were able to take something away about the importance of ethics even in the midst of an exponentially growing technocentric environment. This allowed us to understand that when AI makes decisions, it sometimes gives an answer before all the information is given to it, but that does not change the answer it has given. This also had us discussing how you can tell the difference between AI and a human based on the decision it would make in such situations. However, if you ask Dr. Woodard, “I watched the Barbie movie and then I saw the musical Six, and I have concluded the patriarchy sucks and we should chose the one that kills the men!” (Disclaimer: He was not actually serious).
The cryptologists then aimed to work on a bomb (but not that kind of bombe!) They traded rotor settings for VR headsets and attempted to diffuse different bombs in virtual reality. “Keep talking and nobody explodes” was the name of the game! After many successful attempts and even more laughs, nobody exploded and the cryptologists headed safely back to the train station!
Following the national museum of computing, we headed over to a shuffleboard bar for some fun games and a social outing hoping to disconnect after a day full of technology. We played a few heated shuffle board games and shot some pool to fill the time before dinner.
Bottom: Dr. Millichap locked in on his shuffleboard game, hoping to have the perfect shot (and takedown his students)
We hung out there for about an hour before heading over to a market area where we grabbed a bite to eat and went to a park nearby for a little outdoor picnic! Between gyros or a standard chicken tenders and fries, everyone found something delicious to eat and we enjoyed sitting in the park and chatting. The topic of convo for dinner tonight: If you were a professor what may x would you want to teach?? From sharks to architecture to even sailboats, we all got to learn a little more about everyone's niche interests. After dinner, we threw the frisbee around and lingered for just a little while enjoying the company of each other. It was a great way to end such a good day.
Fun fact: On this day in 1936, Alan Turing submitted " On Computable Numbers for publication, in which he set out the theoretical basis for modern computers.
That's all we have for today. Time for a sweet treat and a nightly instagram reels scroll before we head to bed. Sleep tight cryptologists and get ready for an exciting morning at the Churchill War Rooms!
-Kali and Maggie
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