Potential forever unfulfilled.

September 5, 2001 2:54 PM

Potential forever unfulfilled. Alan Turing was a great scientist and philosopher, though most famous for his work in cracking the nazi Enigma encryption used for communication by their U-boats. Turing, one of the foremost innovators in the field of computer science at its inception, was also a homosexual. Tried and convicted for such acts in 1952, Turing committed suicide in 1954. A bronze statue is now being erected in honor of Turing, even as the research he'd begun in computer science is still incomplete.
posted by moz (25 comments total)

(thanks to slashdot, by the way)
posted by moz at 2:55 PM on September 5, 2001

You sad fuck. Replying to your own post ( :-)) .
posted by leafy at 2:58 PM on September 5, 2001

I saw a great NOVA program on the Enigma ciphers (or deciphers? whatever) recently, and Turing seems like the classic genius, unfortunately not able to relate to people as well as he could to problems and machines. A tragic but important figure in WWII whom I had never heard of before.
posted by msacheson at 3:00 PM on September 5, 2001

I dunno. I thought he was most famous for that machine named after him... But maybe that's just among computer science folk.

Um, is it just me, or is that a faux web-browser screenshot behind him? Talk about tacky...
posted by whatnotever at 3:35 PM on September 5, 2001

If he was so smart what compnay did he start up and how much is the stock worth?
posted by Postroad at 3:42 PM on September 5, 2001

I think his company was called "Learn To Spell, Postroad" or "Post Something Relevant".

Many people owe their lives to this man, yet he died lonely and ostracized because he was gay. Too sad.
posted by hotdoughnutsnow at 3:58 PM on September 5, 2001

[A]nd Turing seems like the classic genius, unfortunately not able to relate to people as well as he could to problems and machines.

The NOVA special certainly left that impression. Of course, all the audience had to go on was the fact that he turned down an invitation (to tea -- you know what that means!) to some female coworker who apparently wasn't in on the secret.
posted by rschram at 4:03 PM on September 5, 2001

I don't believe the NOVA program came out and said he was gay (I didn't watch the end though). I just remember an interview with a woman going "he was always awkward around girls, I don't think he knew how to talk to them".
posted by geoff. at 4:24 PM on September 5, 2001

It should be noted that Turing committed suicide only after being subjected to misguided hormone therapies that left him grossly obese. Despite his enormous contribution to the war effort, he was essentially tortured by his own government.

Fitting that he should finally be properly honored.
posted by aladfar at 4:32 PM on September 5, 2001

At the end of the program, they went into his security clearance being revoked due to his homosexuality, and his subsequent suicide. An incredible waste.

I'm sure Postroad was joking, btw. I always picture him typing really fast. Spellcheck? Who has time?
posted by gimli at 4:41 PM on September 5, 2001

There's a rather interesting play about Turing called Breaking the Code, originally starring Derek Jacobi. The television adaptation was available on video, last time I checked.
posted by thomas j wise at 4:59 PM on September 5, 2001

Sylvia Nasar's biography of John Forbes Nash, A Beautiful Mind goes into some detail on homosexuality among scientists at around this time, and how the (predictable) reaction of the government they worked for ruined the ability of the most brilliant men of the era to contribute in their fields.

Good book. If you want, you can read it, or just wait for the movie.
posted by Hildago at 5:53 PM on September 5, 2001

Probably best know for the Turing Test, which tries to address the issue on how to measure if a machine is intelligent or not.

Pretty flawed test, right now AOLiza has tricked dozens if not hundreds of people. Looks like the test measures human intelligence and we've got lots of losers.
posted by skallas at 10:54 PM on September 5, 2001

In the Turing test, however, you know one of your correspondents is a machine and the other is a human. The people who chat with AOLiza by and large don't know in advance that they're talking to a machine. The whole point of the Turing test is for the interviewers to be in as skeptical a frame of mind as possible, to be actively looking for traces of machine-like behavior which will betray the artificial mind.
posted by kindall at 12:04 AM on September 6, 2001

Would you care to elaborate, kindall? Or should we ask your busy Grandmother to make cookies instead?
posted by Opus Dark at 2:37 AM on September 6, 2001

If you want to read a book that goes into fantastic detail about Enigma and Turing read Enigma: The Battle for the Code by Hugh Sebag Montefiore. Forget the Robert Harris book, it's rubbish.
posted by Summer at 3:15 AM on September 6, 2001

Further reading on the Turing Test if you're interested is the seminal Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid by Douglas Hofstadter -- a dense work on intelligence, creativity and the limits on any formal system (even a complex one like an AI.)
posted by bclark at 6:01 AM on September 6, 2001

Turing Reading Redux - I first heard of Turing last year reading Neal Stephenson's "Cryptonomicon" - it goes into detail on his contributions, IIRC makes reference to his proclivities, and is in the whole a fantastic read. Can I get an Amen from the congregation?
posted by vito90 at 6:20 AM on September 6, 2001

Turing might be more famous among us, computer folks. And for a very good reason. He's acknowledged as the creator of the computability theory, if I'm not mistaken.

Turing's work was much more than the famous Turing's Test and the Turing Machines.

And he was also doing research on several different areas, such as sociology and biology, which is very significant if you know that some Artificial Intelligence approaches are based on sociology and biology.

On the matter of his tragical life and death, I believe that all the work he did for the Allies during WWII was considered secret. He was awarded an honorific title by the British Government, but the public was never aware of the reason for that. I don't know if that would have made any difference to the public at that time, but it's a pity.

All this info I posted was gathered in some homepages and college classes. There might be some mistakes, but I believe that it's mostly true. There's a good Turing biography that you might find at amazon.com, if you're interested in more information regarding his life and work.
posted by rexgregbr at 6:27 AM on September 6, 2001

Another book recommendation (perhaps the one rexgregbr is referring to) -- Alan Turing: The Enigma by Andrew Hodges.

I read it on my honeymoon (rockandroll!!) and found it pretty fascinating, even for a layperson like moi.
posted by alexfw at 7:05 AM on September 6, 2001

Cryptonomicon is a very fun read. I have wondered how historically accurate it is? It appears to be very well researched and to be as close to reality as Stephenson wants to be. But perhaps I am easily fooled.
posted by mmm at 7:17 AM on September 6, 2001

That's the one... 'Alan Turing: The Enigma', by Andrew Hodges.

Regarding 'Cryptonomicon', it's a great book. It was my first Stephenson book and I really enjoyed it so much that I bought 'Snow Crash' quickly after. I don't think it's main concern was to be historically accurate (although I reckon Stephenson must have done a lot of research), but it sure is a fun reading.
posted by rexgregbr at 7:37 AM on September 6, 2001

I have wondered how historically accurate it is? It appears to be very well researched and to be as close to reality as Stephenson wants to be.

His description of Manila is dead-on, and very heavily researched. I found two factual errors in the entire book -- one could've been a typo, and the other one was pivotal to the action and couldn't have been corrected.
posted by lia at 9:28 AM on September 6, 2001

Factual accounts I've read of the British codebreaking effort sync up quite well with the relevant parts of Cryptonomicon. Read Simon Singh's The Code Book, for instance.
posted by kindall at 9:37 AM on September 6, 2001

I don't believe the NOVA program came out and said he was gay (I didn't watch the end though).

That's when they revealed it. I think my point was that the NOVA special threw up this possibility that Turing was a nebbish interpersonally, without much biographical detail to substantiate. It perpetuates this idea that all brilliant scientists are slovenly, eccentric, communist faggots. When I watch a documentary, I want ot learn something, not dabble in well-worn cliches.
posted by rschram at 11:01 AM on September 6, 2001