Philosophy
Computers don't grow on trees, and even though they are ubiquitous today, that wasn't always the case. In fact, they've only been around for less than a hundred years, and although there are certain folks to whom we owe a huge debt of gratitude for laying down the conceptual foundations (the philosopher Leibniz for inventing the binary language system upon which programming depends, for instance, or the enchantress of numbers Ada Lovelace's brilliant insight into the power of computation rather than mere calculation), the individual most directly responsible for modern computation is Alan Turing.
His was a remarkable life, full of genius, insight, inspiration, courage and intellectual creativity. His contributions during World War II (like the fact he broke the Nazi code and was privy to the information sent in secret messages to Hitler and his thugs even before they received it) may be directly responsible for saving hundreds of thousands of lives, and of accelerating the end of the war.
For all of his importance, however, his life was also very tragic. Because of the top-secret nature of his mathematical work during the war, he was never officially recognized. And to add insult to injury, his homosexuality was used to ban him from his own work, to treat him worse than a common criminal, and eventually it led to his suicide. This is his life:
For more on Turing's mathematical and philosophical importance, check out two of my favorite documentaries in this whole blog: Dangerous Knowledge with David Malone, and The Secret Life of Chaos with Jim Al-Khalili.
- Turing's Biographer's Dilemma: How Much Are You Required To Tell When You Are Required To Tell It?
Continuing our Turing Week theme, here's a post originally up in 2006: I'm writing on Descartes for a series of biographies of famous mathematicians designed for the middle and high school reader. Before I accepted the assignment, I was given...
- Turing's Biographer's Dilemma: How Much Are You Required To Tell When You Are Required To Tell It?
I'm writing on Descartes for a series of biographies of famous mathematicians designed for the high school reader. Before I accepted the assignment, I was given a list of figures still needing authors and one that piqued my interest was Alan Turning....
- Dangerous Knowledge
Beneath the surface of the world are the rules of science, but beneath them there is a far deeper set of rules, a matrix of pure mathematics, which explains the nature of the rules of science... So begins this David Malone tour-de-force tribute to four...
- Alan Turing Pardoned
"Father Of Artificial Intelligence To Be Pardoned For Being Gay" by George Dvorsky July 23rd, 2013 io9 Back in 1952, mathematician and computer scientist Alan Turing was convicted for gross indecency — the standard criminal charge for homosexuality....
- Forgiveness For Alan Turing By Stephen Hawking And Others
"Alan Turing Pardon? Stephen Hawking, Other Scientists Urge Forgiveness For Gay Computer Icon" December 14th, 2012 The Huffington Post Stephen Hawking and other eminent scientists called Friday for the British government to pardon computer pioneer Alan...
Philosophy
Breaking the Code - The Biography of Alan Turing
His was a remarkable life, full of genius, insight, inspiration, courage and intellectual creativity. His contributions during World War II (like the fact he broke the Nazi code and was privy to the information sent in secret messages to Hitler and his thugs even before they received it) may be directly responsible for saving hundreds of thousands of lives, and of accelerating the end of the war.
For all of his importance, however, his life was also very tragic. Because of the top-secret nature of his mathematical work during the war, he was never officially recognized. And to add insult to injury, his homosexuality was used to ban him from his own work, to treat him worse than a common criminal, and eventually it led to his suicide. This is his life:
For more on Turing's mathematical and philosophical importance, check out two of my favorite documentaries in this whole blog: Dangerous Knowledge with David Malone, and The Secret Life of Chaos with Jim Al-Khalili.
- Turing's Biographer's Dilemma: How Much Are You Required To Tell When You Are Required To Tell It?
Continuing our Turing Week theme, here's a post originally up in 2006: I'm writing on Descartes for a series of biographies of famous mathematicians designed for the middle and high school reader. Before I accepted the assignment, I was given...
- Turing's Biographer's Dilemma: How Much Are You Required To Tell When You Are Required To Tell It?
I'm writing on Descartes for a series of biographies of famous mathematicians designed for the high school reader. Before I accepted the assignment, I was given a list of figures still needing authors and one that piqued my interest was Alan Turning....
- Dangerous Knowledge
Beneath the surface of the world are the rules of science, but beneath them there is a far deeper set of rules, a matrix of pure mathematics, which explains the nature of the rules of science... So begins this David Malone tour-de-force tribute to four...
- Alan Turing Pardoned
"Father Of Artificial Intelligence To Be Pardoned For Being Gay" by George Dvorsky July 23rd, 2013 io9 Back in 1952, mathematician and computer scientist Alan Turing was convicted for gross indecency — the standard criminal charge for homosexuality....
- Forgiveness For Alan Turing By Stephen Hawking And Others
"Alan Turing Pardon? Stephen Hawking, Other Scientists Urge Forgiveness For Gay Computer Icon" December 14th, 2012 The Huffington Post Stephen Hawking and other eminent scientists called Friday for the British government to pardon computer pioneer Alan...