Alan Turing: Campaign to Pardon the 'Father of the Modern Computer' for Being Gay
The mathematician, cryptanalyst, and computer scientist Alan Turing is widely credited with helping to win World War II by cracking coded Nazi messages created with the powerful Enigma machine. He was an early contributor to the debate on artificial intelligence and created one of the first self-contained, stored-program computers. An eccentric to be sure, Turing was named by Time Magazine as one of the 100 most important people of the 20th century. The highest honor achievable in computer science is called, in his honor, the Turing Award. Alan Turing was also gay, which in 1953 led to his prosecution by the British government. Upon his conviction for gross indecency, Turing was stripped of his security clearance, chemically castrated, and publicly disgraced. He committed suicide in 1954 at the age of 41 by eating an apple laced with cyanide.
British computer expert John Graham-Cumming is now spearheading a campaign to have Turing posthumously pardoned by the British government. Although in recent years Turing's legacy has been officially recognized with memorial statues, awards, and even a knighthood, his conviction for homosexuality (illegal in Great Britain until 1967) represents an unfair stain on the record of a great man. It represents an even greater stain on the history of Great Britain. A petition is being circulated demanding that Turing be pardoned for his "crime." Watch a video (SFW) about the campaign after the jump.
Print
Delicious
Digg
StumbleUpon
Reddit
Google
Yahoo
Comments
Pardon Turing?
How can you pardon a man for doing nothing wrong? The British murdered the man whose genius helped them avoid utter defeat at the hands of monsters only slightly worse than themselves. The government knew he was a homosexual during the war, but allowed him to work for them until it was safe to destroy him, just as Hitler did with the heavily queer SA. Pardoning him does nothing for Turing; neither does his posthumous knighthood. The only way to fully exonerate Turing, and the thousands of lesser-known heroes who suffered similar fates, is to recognize the inherent worth of all homosexuals as human beings. Granting the occasional "Gay Right" by legislative fiat means nothing when it may be taken away again just as easily. Only when we acknowledge that all people have the same inalienable rights can any part of this shameful legacy of spiteful stupidity be set right.
Alan Turing-Iraq suppression oppretion depression repression ?
Alan Turing
suppression oppression depression repression !!! What R we scared of ????
Let him rest in peace.
perhaps it is time we devolve a bit for it appears we are too scared to evolve.
He was ahead of his time on every level, sometimes there is a price to pay. he is free now who gives a fuck about the pardon.
The same perpetrators are repeating the same old and new crimes Tyranny in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan,Honduras and many a country.
Coup d'etat, direct attack, destabilisation, economic, cultural, political or simply through the UN and the league of ass-holes .
Alan Turing-Iraq suppression oppretion depression repression ?
Alan Turing
suppression oppression depression repression !!! What R we scared of ????
Let him rest in peace.
perhaps it is time we devolve a bit for it appears we are too afraid to evolve.
He was ahead of his time on every level, sometimes there is a price to pay. he is free now who gives a fuck about the pardon.
The same perpetrators are repeating the same old and new crimes Tyranny in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan,Honduras and many a country.
Coup d'etat, direct attack, destabilisation, economic, cultural, political or simply through the UN and the league of ass-holes .
We officially train killers assassins terrorists we call them the schools of Americas among other many agents of state sponsored terror. it is a strange state of conciousness to feel sorry about the past when the present is infinitely more catastrophic.
Alan Turing-Iraq suppression oppretion depression repression ?
Alan Turing
suppression oppression depression repression !!! What R we scared of ????
Let him rest in peace.
perhaps it is time we devolve a bit for it appears we are too afraid to evolve.
He was ahead of his time on every level, sometimes there is a price to pay. he is free now who gives a fuck about the pardon.
The same perpetrators are repeating the same old and new crimes Tyranny in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan,Honduras and many a country.
Coup d'etat, direct attack, destabilisation, economic, cultural, political or simply through the UN and the league of ass-holes .
We officially train killers assassins terrorists we call them the schools of Americas among other many agents of state sponsored terror. it is a strange state of conciousness, to feel sorry about the past when the present is infinitely more catastrophic.
Alan Turing-Iraq suppression oppretion depression repression ?
Alan Turing
suppression oppression depression repression !!! What R we scared of ????
Let him rest in peace.
perhaps it is time we devolve a bit for it appears we are too afraid to evolve.
He was ahead of his time on every level, sometimes there is a price to pay. he is free now who gives a fuck about the pardon.
The same perpetrators are repeating the same old and new crimes Tyranny in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan,Honduras and many a country.
Coup d'etat, direct attack, destabilisation, economic, cultural, political or simply through the UN and the league of ass-holes .
We officially train killers assassins terrorists we call them the schools of Americas among other many agents of state sponsored terror. it is a strange state of conciousness, to feel sorry about the past when the present is infinitely more catastrophic.