Still Waters Posted December 24, 2013 #1 Share Posted December 24, 2013 Computer pioneer and codebreaker Alan Turing has been given a posthumous royal pardon. It addresses his 1952 conviction for homosexuality for which he was punished by being chemically castrated. The conviction meant he lost his security clearance and had to stop the code-cracking work that had proved vital to the Allies in World War Two. http://www.bbc.co.uk...nology-25495315 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
questionmark Posted December 24, 2013 #2 Share Posted December 24, 2013 like 50 years too late? 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Ford Posted December 24, 2013 #3 Share Posted December 24, 2013 Can't believe the savages he was protecting chemically castrated the poor man. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevewinn Posted December 24, 2013 #4 Share Posted December 24, 2013 Can't believe the savages he was protecting chemically castrated the poor man. different times back then, just shows how times change, but will the 50 others who were also convicted for the same 'crime' also receive a pardon. i think they should. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orcseeker Posted December 25, 2013 #5 Share Posted December 25, 2013 So... What about an apology? 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShadowSot Posted December 25, 2013 #6 Share Posted December 25, 2013 like 50 years too late? 60, really. And we still live in a culture where teens and adults who are homosexual commit suicide far to often because of the way the culture treats them. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SHaYap Posted December 25, 2013 #7 Share Posted December 25, 2013 (edited) ALan Turing did more than just cracking codes ... he's a magus mathematician supreme ... ~ Alan Mathison Turing, OBE, FRS (/ˈtjʊərɪŋ/ TEWR-ing; 23 June 1912 – 7 June 1954) was a British mathematician, logician, cryptanalyst and computer scientist. He was highly influential in the development of computer science, giving a formalisation of the concepts of "algorithm" and "computation" with the Turing machine, which can be considered a model of a general purpose computer.[2][3][4] Turing is widely considered to be the father of computer science and artificial intelligence.[5] During the Second World War, Turing worked for the Government Code and Cypher School (GC&CS) at Bletchley Park, Britain's codebreaking centre. For a time he was head of Hut 8, the section responsible for German naval cryptanalysis. He devised a number of techniques for breaking German ciphers, including the method of the bombe, an electromechanical machine that could find settings for the Enigma machine. After the war, he worked at the National Physical Laboratory, where he designed the ACE, one of the first designs for a stored-program computer. In 1948 Turing joined Max Newman's Computing Laboratory at Manchester University, where he assisted in the development of the Manchester computers[6] and became interested in mathematical biology. He wrote a paper on the chemical basis of morphogenesis, and predicted oscillating chemical reactions such as the Belousov–Zhabotinsky reaction, which were first observed in the 1960s. Possibly the pro creator of computers ? wiki link ~ edit : missing link Edited December 25, 2013 by third_eye 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
questionmark Posted December 25, 2013 #8 Share Posted December 25, 2013 ALan Turing did more than just cracking codes ... he's a magus mathematician supreme ... ~ Possibly the pro creator of computers ? wiki link ~ edit : missing link He created the second functional programmable computer (the first was Konrad Zuse) and the first vacuum tube computer. Though he almost missed out on being second were it not for the Nazis rudely interrupting research at the Warsaw university in '39. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SHaYap Posted December 25, 2013 #9 Share Posted December 25, 2013 (edited) Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication DataGleick, James. The information : a history, a theory, a flood / James Gleick. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. eISBN 978-0-307-37957-3 1. Information science—History. 2. Information society. I. Title. Z665.G547 2011 020.9—dc22 2010023221 www.around.com A great read on how 'Information' evolved along with modernization ... THe chapters on Turing and the contributions that the mathematicians made along with the problems and the solving to how we communicate today ... ~ edit : twas the beers ... i confess Edited December 25, 2013 by third_eye Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beany Posted December 25, 2013 #10 Share Posted December 25, 2013 He was one of the heroes of WWII that if you mention his name people have no idea who you're talking about. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ealdwita Posted December 25, 2013 #11 Share Posted December 25, 2013 (edited) Again, we are looking back at 1952 events with 2013 eyes. Welcome or not, this 'pardon' is a politically correct misuse of the Royal Pardon system which was designed to amend a miscarriage of justice and the conviction of an innocent person. In 1952, homosexuality was against the law and Mr.Turing broke that law. Therefore he was not innocent and does not qualify for a Royal Pardon in the strictest sense of the Act. I will not argue whether or not he was convicted by a bad law.....by today's accepted standards, it undoubtedly was a bad law, but 60 years ago, Alan Turing was guilty. Edited December 25, 2013 by ealdwita 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter B Posted December 26, 2013 #12 Share Posted December 26, 2013 So... What about an apology? The British government did apologise, back in 2009: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_turing#Government_apology_and_pardon In my opinion that was appropriate, sufficient, and overdue. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SHaYap Posted December 26, 2013 #13 Share Posted December 26, 2013 except for the chemical castration part ~ bet those 'chemicals' is still part of today's big pharma money spinners ~ 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kaa-Tzik Posted December 26, 2013 #14 Share Posted December 26, 2013 except for the chemical castration part ~ bet those 'chemicals' is still part of today's big pharma money spinners ~ This gives us a warning, for in the future could not drugs be then used to "treat" any mindset that the government of the day does not like. To use a crude but easy to understand example, maybe one day a course of injections will "cure" climate change "denial", or "thinking for yourself", clearly a big future crime..... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+OverSword Posted December 27, 2013 #15 Share Posted December 27, 2013 different times back then, just shows how times change, but will the 50 others who were also convicted for the same 'crime' also receive a pardon. i think they should. My ghost would tell them to stuff thier stupid pardon! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SHaYap Posted December 27, 2013 #16 Share Posted December 27, 2013 This gives us a warning, for in the future could not drugs be then used to "treat" any mindset that the government of the day does not like. To use a crude but easy to understand example, maybe one day a course of injections will "cure" climate change "denial", or "thinking for yourself", clearly a big future crime..... Nay my friend ... tis is old and still ongoing crimes ... ~ it is called 'subliminal media messages' and it is highly effective as a visual and audio dispersant ~ . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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