“The father of the modern computer is being honoured, 50 years after he died in tragic circumstances.
Alan Turing was one of the pioneers of computer science, and his work helped make the modern PC a reality.
…
It was his idea of creating a machine to turn thought processes into binary numbers which was one of the key turning points in the history of the computer.” (BBC)
Imagine what he could have done if he hadn’t been so desperate killed himself because of the prejudice he faced as a gay man.
Did Turing kill himself because of “the prejudice he faced as a gay man”? Perhaps.
Turing dersperately wanted not to be gay. After he was convicted he was forced to undergo estrogen “therapy” which destroyed his sex drive and, amnong many side effects, made him grow breasts. Given such grotesquery it’s not so surprising he killed himself I suppose.
I guess my point is that Turing’s story dates from a time before “gay man” and “prejudice”. In his world (and in his own mind) he was diseased. If he’d been born 20 or even 10 years later, he’d probably have been treated differently, seen himself differently, and survived. But would we have had the Turing machine?
Good points. That’s what I get for blogging in a hurry and trying to score cheap points.