Alan Turing..

Beedie Tijii

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Indeed Alan Turing deserves it for his sheer accomplishments, aside from just his war heroics. In Britain we have a lot to be proud of in terms of contributions in computer science. I would argue Tim Berners-Lee would, perhaps postumately, be at least worth an appearance on a limited edition stamp at some point.

I'm less impressed by the government printing a load more money, however.
 

tinytigger

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He was so way ahead of his time! Coming up with the "Turing Test" methodology in 1950(!) for artificial intelligence to test whether AI could be equivalent/indistinguishable from humans! A brilliant mind!!

But the truly shameful thing was how he was chemically castrated for his homosexuality. Putting him on a bank note is some kind of "apology" but jeez, it really doesn't even begin to rectify what they did to this genius of a man.
 
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He was so way ahead of his time! Coming up with the "Turing Test" methodology in 1950(!) for artificial intelligence to test whether AI could be equivalent/indistinguishable from humans! A brilliant mind!!

But the truly shameful thing was how he was chemically castrated for his homosexuality. Putting him on a bank note is some kind of "apology" but jeez, it really doesn't even begin to rectify what they did to this genius of a man.
He wasn't castrated,he was given hormone treatment to lower his libido,which he agreed to.It wasnt a punishment,it was at the time considered treatment at the time.He didn't bear a grudge and actually continued to work quite happily.Fortunetly we see things differently now.
 
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328982

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Yet another massive fuck up when criminal law was based on Biblical morality.
Still is, largely. The 1967 Sexual Offences Act only partly decriminalised homosexuality in England and Wales.

Gay sex remained prosecutable unless it took place in strict privacy, which meant in a person’s own home, behind locked doors and windows, with the curtains drawn and with no other person present in any part of the house. It continued to be a crime if more than two men had sex together or if they were filmed or photographed having sex by another person. Seven men in Bolton were convicted of these offences and two were given suspended jail terms – in 1998.

In Northern Ireland, the ban on anal sex was not finally repealed until 2008. Scotland’s anti-gay laws were repealed in 2009 but, in the case of sodomy, did not take effect until 2013. Gay sex ceased to be a crime in the UK only 6 years ago.

You think we’ve had 50 years of gay liberation? In the UK it’s barely four | Peter Tatchell

Turing's posthumous “pardon” by the Queen as an “exceptional genius” and “war hero” is all well and good, but what about the many thousands of gay men prosecuted under the same laws who were less exceptional. Pardon isn’t the word for it, it's a fucking national disgrace.
 

D_odif

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Still is, largely. The 1967 Sexual Offences Act only partly decriminalised homosexuality in England and Wales.

Gay sex remained prosecutable unless it took place in strict privacy, which meant in a person’s own home, behind locked doors and windows, with the curtains drawn and with no other person present in any part of the house. It continued to be a crime if more than two men had sex together or if they were filmed or photographed having sex by another person. Seven men in Bolton were convicted of these offences and two were given suspended jail terms – in 1998.

In Northern Ireland, the ban on anal sex was not finally repealed until 2008. Scotland’s anti-gay laws were repealed in 2009 but, in the case of sodomy, did not take effect until 2013. Gay sex ceased to be a crime in the UK only 6 years ago.

You think we’ve had 50 years of gay liberation? In the UK it’s barely four | Peter Tatchell

Turing's posthumous “pardon” by the Queen as an “exceptional genius” and “war hero” is all well and good, but what about the many thousands of gay men prosecuted under the same laws who were less exceptional. Pardon isn’t the word for it, it's a fucking national disgrace.
Obviously things are the way they are! But, where do other people get off telling others what they can do? Why do people need to control what others do?
 

hzs3fg

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He wasn't castrated,he was given hormone treatment to lower his libido,which he agreed to.It wasnt a punishment,it was at the time considered treatment at the time.He didn't bear a grudge and actually continued to work quite happily.Fortunetly we see things differently now.

Agreed to it? Agreed to it?

Are you fucking serious?

First of all, it *was* considered chemical castration, a tool that was also used against rapists and pedophiles.

Second, he was given the choice of that or imprisonment. Some choice...

Third, he hated it so much that he committed suicide!
 

hzs3fg

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Still is, largely. The 1967 Sexual Offences Act only partly decriminalised homosexuality in England and Wales.

Gay sex remained prosecutable unless it took place in strict privacy, which meant in a person’s own home, behind locked doors and windows, with the curtains drawn and with no other person present in any part of the house. It continued to be a crime if more than two men had sex together or if they were filmed or photographed having sex by another person. Seven men in Bolton were convicted of these offences and two were given suspended jail terms – in 1998.

In Northern Ireland, the ban on anal sex was not finally repealed until 2008. Scotland’s anti-gay laws were repealed in 2009 but, in the case of sodomy, did not take effect until 2013. Gay sex ceased to be a crime in the UK only 6 years ago.

You think we’ve had 50 years of gay liberation? In the UK it’s barely four | Peter Tatchell

Turing's posthumous “pardon” by the Queen as an “exceptional genius” and “war hero” is all well and good, but what about the many thousands of gay men prosecuted under the same laws who were less exceptional. Pardon isn’t the word for it, it's a fucking national disgrace.

I agree to some extent about the pardon thing, but it is worth noting that three years after the Queen pardoned Turing, the British government posthumously pardoned thousands (essentially, every single one) of gay and bisexual men who had been previously convicted of homosexual acts.
 
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328982

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Obviously things are the way they are! But, where do other people get off telling others what they can do? Why do people need to control what others do?
I just don’t know. Seems like there's an enduring atavistic disgust, maybe genetic in basis, around mm sex acts. It's just there. A visceral reaction. Many are still quite open about it. If you feel that disgust it must be hard not also to feel that there's something morally wrong about what causes you disgust - “nature’s way” of telling you it's wrong. And when the majority feel that way, it gets passed into law.
 
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328982

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I agree to some extent about the pardon thing, but it is worth noting that three years after the Queen pardoned Turing, the British government posthumously pardoned thousands (essentially, every single one) of gay and bisexual men who had been previously convicted of homosexual acts.
True, after much campaigning. Think it still only applies to England and Wales. But yeah, better late than never.
 

halcyondays

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Still is, largely. The 1967 Sexual Offences Act only partly decriminalised homosexuality in England and Wales.

Indeed. Over here in the US the American Psychiatric Association didn't remove homosexuality from its DSM as a psychiatric disorder until 1973.

It was still illegal in fourteen states and the military when the US Supreme Court overturned all sodomy laws in 2003.
 
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Agreed to it? Agreed to it?

Are you fucking serious?

First of all, it *was* considered chemical castration, a tool that was also used against rapists and pedophiles.

Second, he was given the choice of that or imprisonment. Some choice...

Third, he hated it so much that he committed suicide!
Er,do some investigating of the story before you mouth off.He wasnt castrated,he was given hormone treatment,which was not something he had to submit to.The authorities took a dim view of him being caught with a much younger man,a teenager in fact,which was regarded in those days as predatory behaviour,so he was offered it as a treatment not as part of his prosecution.Other men at the time were invariably fined or given short prison sentences.As for him committing suicide,it is now widely believed his death was accidental,indeed his mother and several close friends maintain this to be true.
 
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Homosexuality was illegal in the United Kingdom in the early 1950s, so when Turing admitted to police, called to his house after a January 1952 break-in, that he'd had a sexual relationship with the perpetrator, 19-year-old Arnold Murray, he was charged with gross indecency. Following his arrest, Turing was forced to choose between temporary probation on the condition that he receive hormonal treatment for libido reduction, or imprisonment. He chose the former, and soon underwent chemical castration through injections of a synthetic estrogen hormone for a year, which eventually rendered him impotent.

As a result of his conviction, Turing's security clearance was removed and he was barred from continuing his work with cryptography at the GCCS, which had become the GCHQ in 1946.

Turing died on June 7, 1954. Following a postmortem exam, it was determined that the cause of death was cyanide poisoning. The remains of an apple were found next to the body, though no apple parts were found in his stomach. The autopsy reported that "four ounces of fluid which smelled strongly of bitter almonds, as does a solution of cyanide" was found in the stomach. Trace smell of bitter almonds was also reported in vital organs. The autopsy concluded that the cause of death was asphyxia due to cyanide poisoning and ruled a suicide.

Is how the story goes embarrassing really the guy was a hero and they did that to him they should go through the same 'hormone treatment'
 
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2996041

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Er,do some investigating of the story before you mouth off.He wasnt castrated,he was given hormone treatment,which was not something he had to submit to.The authorities took a dim view of him being caught with a much younger man,a teenager in fact,which was regarded in those days as predatory behaviour,so he was offered it as a treatment not as part of his prosecution.Other men at the time were invariably fined or given short prison sentences.As for him committing suicide,it is now widely believed his death was accidental,indeed his mother and several close friends maintain this to be true.
My post was directed mainly at this... I think u believe what u would like to believe. There is no argument for what happened to Turing it was not right.
 
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My post was directed mainly at this... I think u believe what u would like to believe. There is no argument for what happened to Turing it was not right.
Today's standards are not the same as the standards then.No doubt in another 60 years ours will be equally puzzled over.It was desperately sad what happened to him.I believe his homosexuality was not something he felt comfortable with,he wanted to be married,indeed he was engaged to a woman,but backed at the last minute.I believe this is why he voluntarily submitted to the hormone treatment.Rightly or wrongly some people believed it to be a possible 'cure.' Perhaps he did? People must also remember that at this time there were also a number of high profile cases of importuning,John Gielgud and Alec Guiness being two such both I believed were merely fined.I think it was different with Turing because of the age of the man involved and also because of the security issues.
 
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2996041

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Today's standards are not the same as the standards then.No doubt in another 60 years ours will be equally puzzled over.It was desperately sad what happened to him.I believe his homosexuality was not something he felt comfortable with,he wanted to be married,indeed he was engaged to a woman,but backed at the last minute.I believe this is why he voluntarily submitted to the hormone treatment.Rightly or wrongly some people believed it to be a possible 'cure.' Perhaps he did? People must also remember that at this time there were also a number of high profile cases of importuning,John Gielgud and Alec Guiness being two such both I believed were merely fined.I think it was different with Turing because of the age of the man involved and also because of the security issues.
I think he probably 'voluntarily submitted to the hormone treatment' because it seemed like a better option than prison lol. Of course times have changed and obviously he is not the only case but for the things he did for the world it seems even more fucked up.
 

HorseHung40's

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The office of my sons' school called this week. My middle son declared that computer science was gay. Several out lesbians in his class applauded him. The class was taught by a somewhat homophobic football coach who thundered, "No way, it is gay. I use a computer." Undeterred, my son explained that Alan Turing, the father of computer science was gay. The coach then said, "Gay people don't go in for that. It is too technical for them." The lesbians hissed at the coach, calling him everyone from dumb, XS jock to moron to anything else.

The coach sent my son and the three girls to the office, because they were inciting a riot within his classroom - and - undermining this man's authority.

I had to go the school, and, meet with the vice principal, who said that she was shocked at my son's comment. She added that it is best that he not discuss "gay things". I decided to ask what she meant by "gay things", to which she rolled her eyes, and, said, "You know, advancing 'homosexualism'." Who knew that that was a word? I digress.

I stated poignantly that Alan Turing was indeed gay and still managed to be the father of modern computer science, adding that the Bank of England was going to honor him on its 50 pound note.

Then I demanded that my son not be "taught" by a buffoon. If they did not move him to another class, I would repeat this to the media with all names and details.

While I am proud of my son for acknowledging Alan Turing, and, supporting that man's sexuality, I am truly dismayed at the social advancement of some of those in power in his school.