[alicebot-aiethics] book review

[Christopher Fahey [askrom]]

> Only in hushed tones was it 
> whispered that Turing had met a tragic fate owing to his 
> homosexuality, but this was the 1980's, and gay was becoming 
> mainstream. Today Turing would not be considered mentally ill 
> for being gay, but his suicide indicates depression.

His method of suicide was even more indicative of the extreme mental
state he had been driven to, and the circumstances leading to his
suicide only add to the tragedy of his story. According to Simon Singh's
excellent book on cryptography, "The Code Book", Turing had developed a
kind of obsession with the movie "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs", and
in the end he killed himself with a poisoned apple. Had he simply been a
civilian mathematician, his homosexuality may never have been an issue.
But as a military employee ("employee" is hardly a sufficient term for
saving the world from the Nazis), it became a problem that the British
government felt that had to do something about. He was forced to take
some sort of preposterous hormone therapy to 'make him straight', but it
only ended up causing him to develop breasts and likely amplified his
emotional fragility. 

I don't like to see this story glossed over in biographies of Turing, as
if this aspect of his personal life was something to be ashamed of. It
is important for us to realize what a great crime was committed in the
name of 'morality', and it adds to my awe of Turing as a man who
accomplished so much under such difficult circumstances.

Great review, Richard. I may read that book!

-Cf


[christopher eli fahey]
art: http://www.graphpaper.com
science: http://www.askrom.com