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'''Irving John (Jack) Good''', (December 9, 1916 - April 5, 2009)<br/>
a British statistician and computer pioneer. During [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II World War II], Good worked with [[Alan Turing]] and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conel_Hugh_O%27Donel_Alexander Conel Hugh O'Donel Alexander] at [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bletchley_Park Bletchley Park], with [[Donald Michie]] and [[Shaun Wylie]] et al. in the section [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newmanry Newmanry] headed by [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Newman Max Newman], contributing to crack the German [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lorenz_SZ_40/42 Lorenz cipher] <ref>[[Jack Good]], [[Donald Michie]], [[Mathematician#GTimms|Geoffrey Timms]] ('''1945'''). ''[http://www.alanturing.net/turing_archive/archive/index/tunnyreportindex.html General Report on Tunny]'' from [http://www.alanturing.net/turing_archive/index.html The Turing Archive for the History of Computing]</ref> <ref>[[The Computer History Museum#Codebreaking|From Codebreaking to Computing - Video]] from [[The Computer History Museum]]</ref>. After the war he worked at the [[University of Manchester]] and [[Atlas Computer Laboratory]], and had a variety of defense, consulting and academic positions, until he came to the United States in 1967, becoming a University Distinguished Professor at [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Polytechnic_Institute_and_State_University Virginia Tech]. In 1965 he originated the concept of an [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technological_singularity#Intelligence_explosion intelligence explosion], now known as [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technological_singularity technological singularity] <ref>[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singularity_Institute_for_Artificial_Intelligence Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence from WikiepediaWikipedia]</ref>, which anticipates the eventual advent of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superintelligence superhuman intelligence] <ref>[[Jack Good]] ('''1965'''). ''[http://www.acceleratingfuture.com/pages/ultraintelligentmachine.html Speculations Concerning the First Ultraintelligent Machine]''. [http://www.informatik.uni-trier.de/~ley/db/journals/ac/ac6.html Advances in Computers, Vol. 6], [http://www.stat.vt.edu/tech_reports/2005/GoodTechReport.pdf pdf], [http://commonsenseatheism.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Good-Speculations-Concerning-the-First-Ultraintelligent-Machine.pdf pdf]</ref>. Jack Good died on April 5, 2009, aged 92 <ref>[http://www.vtnews.vt.edu/story.php?relyear=2009&itemno=276 In Memoriam: I. J. Good, University Distinguished Professor and pioneer of modern statistics], Obituary from [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Polytechnic_Institute_and_State_University Virginia Tech]</ref>.
=Photos=
Excerpt from the Obituary, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Times The Times] <ref>[http://www.chilton-computing.org.uk/acl/associates/permanent/good.htm Obituary, The Times - Brilliant mathematician and Bletchley Park codebreaker who laid the foundations of modern statistics] hosted by [[Atlas Computer Laboratory]]</ref>
To statisticians, Good is one of the founding fathers of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayesian_statistics Bayesian statistics], an approach to the discipline based on work of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Bayes Thomas Bayes] in 1764. In it one forms a view of the phenomenon under study, quantifying one's uncertainty in terms of a [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Probability_distribution probability distribution] (the prior distribution). One then draws a sample, obtaining data, and uses the data and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayes%27_theorem Bayes's theorem] to update this prior uncertainty to give a new distribution, the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posterior_distribution posterior distribution]. This approach - the Bayesian paradigm, as it is now called - was little used before Good's work but was given an important boost by his 1950 book and his extensive subsequent writings, and is firmly established today. Good's other interests included [[Artificial Intelligence|artificial intelligence]] - in particular, training computers to play chess and philosophy.
=HAL 9000=
<span id="HAL9000"></span>[[Marvin Minsky]] and [[Jack Good]] were adviser of the 1968 [[:Category:Arthur C. Clarke|Arthur C. Clarke]] and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley_Kubrick Stanley Kubrick] film [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2001:_A_Space_Odyssey_%28film%29 2001: A Space Odyssey], concerning [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-replicating_machine Self-replicating machine] and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HAL_9000 HAL 9000], the '''H'''euristically programmed '''AL'''gorithmic computer, and were referred to both in the movie and the book <ref>[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2001:_A_Space_Odyssey_%28film%29#Accuracy 2001: A Space Odyssey | Science | Accuracy]</ref> <ref>[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marvin_Minsky#Biography Marvin Minsky from Wikipedia | Biography]</ref>.
=From Russia with Love=
=See also=
* [[The Computer History Museum#Codebreaking|From Codebreaking to Computing - Video]] from [[The Computer History Museum]]
* [[Point Value#TheoreticalAttempt|Point Value - Theoretical Attempt]]
* [[Alan Turing#DeathOfAlanTuring|The Strange Life and Death of Dr Turing - Video]]
=Selected Publications=
<ref>[http://ilk.uvt.nl/icga/journal/docs/References.pdf [ICGA Journal#RefDB|ICGA Reference Database] (pdf)]</ref> <ref>[http://www.web-e.stat.vt.edu/holtzman/IJGood/IJGoodsShorterPubList,Aug19,2003.pdf I.J. Good's Shorter Publications List] (pdf) from [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Polytechnic_Institute_and_State_University Virginia Tech]</ref>
==1939==
* [[Jack Good]] ('''1939'''). ''Mathematics and chess''. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eureka_%28University_of_Cambridge_magazine%29 Eureka I]
=References=
<references />
'''[[People|Up one level]]'''
[[Category:Chess Player|Good]]
[[Category:Pioneer|Good]]
[[Category:Quotes|Good]]
[[Category:Levy Quotes|Good]]
[[Category:Good Quotes|Good]]
[[Category:Arthur C. Clarke|Good]]
[[Category:Film|Good]]
