Prime Minister of UK apologizes for threatment of Alan Turing

[phrostbyte]

http://www.number10.gov.uk/Page20571

For those who don't know: Alan Turing was a British mathematician and code breaker who made massive contributions that lead to the breaking of the German Enigma machine. He also widely is considered the father of modern computer science.

Read more here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Turing

[JillSwift]

"A day late and a dollar short."

It would be nice if folks came away from this with the lesson that we aught treat people like people, rather than allow prejudice and xenophobia to make our decisions for us. But I'm not holding my breath for it.

[phrostbyte]

Epic post fail

[phrostbyte]

Epic post fail x 2

[phrostbyte]

True. But it's better then nothing.

The apology also was very focused on his work in codebreaking. But that wasn't really what made him famous (his work in codebreaking was only made public in recent times). He is known for his work in computer science, this is why we have things like the ACM Turing Award today. Not one mention of this by PM Gordon Brown. :-k

[Old Marcus]

As they said on Mock the Week:

http://img.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2008/03_01/split0703_468x330.jpg
T.L.D.P
Tory, Liberal Democrat, Pillock.

[chriskin]

it's better than nothing but it was WAY too late

[chriskin]

True. But it's better then nothing.

The apology also was very focused on his work in codebreaking. But that wasn't really what made him famous (his work in codebreaking was only made public in recent times). He is known for his work in computer science, this is why we have things like the ACM Turing Award today. Not one mention of this by PM Gordon Brown. :-k

by the way, the apology was on codebreaking because that was what saved his country at that time. moving science big steps forward is considered by many less important than contributing that much in stopping German's armies.

[JillSwift]

How about an apology for the mistreatment of all those others for being gay?

[chriskin]

How about an apology for the mistreatment of all those others for being gay?

like you said, i wouldn't hold my breath

but it sure will be a big step forward
(or the ending of mistreatment, it would be way better - not just gays as well)

[Barrucadu]

I've never really understood why leaders feel the need to apologise for things done in the past, by people other than themselves, in a society very different to that of today.

[chriskin]

I've never really understood why leaders feel the need to apologise for things done in the past, by people other than themselves, in a society very different to that of today.

it symbolizes that they do not believe that it was right, that they will not do something like that

strangely enough, they do the same things every day

[nothingspecial]

I've never really understood why leaders feel the need to apologise for things done in the past, by people other than themselves, in a society very different to that of today.

Because even though, for many years, he has been recognised as a great man, he is still officially a convicted criminal. Even though his crime is not a crime today. I think a pardon is in order.

[phrostbyte]

Because even though, for many years, he has been recognised as a great man, he is still officially a convicted criminal. Even though his crime is not a crime today. I think a pardon is in order.

Can a pardon bring him back from the dead? :confused:

[spoons]

Can a pardon bring him back from the dead? :confused:

No but it would be done as a sign of respect for him.

[gnomeuser]

Can a pardon bring him back from the dead? :confused:

No but it's not uncommon for pardons to be issued after someones death to acknowledge wrong doing on the part of society and signify that their suffering enlightened us today.

Personally I am glad that an apology was extended, he was an important man and while he deserved cheers and the respect of society for playing a major part in preventing the nazi jackboot from crushing us all, his nature was called criminal and he was robbed of his dignity.

I would have liked for the apology to come with a full pardon but in honesty that was not what the signatories asked for. We shouldn't get greedy.

[Gizenshya]

I had no idea that this type of thing had ever been condoned by a western government.

I'll refrain fromk posting what I want to post, given the guidelines of the forum.

That being said, there is a long way to go.

[Screwdriver0815]

this apology should have been done much much earlier. But better late than never.

these inventions to accellerate the codebreaking are ingenious and also the things he did for artificial intelligence (Turing Test) and so on... its a shame that he was mistreated so badly. But anyway, at least now the UK gouvernment has apologised and thats good

[nothingspecial]

Can a pardon bring him back from the dead? :confused:

Yes of course it can. Have you never heard of the pardoning spell?..........

On a more serious note, a pardon is the absolute minimum the uk government should do for a man that, if not for his efforts (not to ignore the countless thousands of others), would not exist.

And while they`re about it how about Oscar Wilde and any one else who has been convicted of this "Crime"?

[dmizer]

Discussions on politics are not allowed.

Thank you all for participating.