The Man Who Made the UK Say “I’m Sorry for What We Did to Turing” (2014) | Hacker News Reader

The Man Who Made the UK Say “I’m Sorry for What We Did to Turing” (2014)

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157 pointsjgrahamc44 comments

I realize that this is an old story, but I posted it because Steven Levy is the best interviewer to have ever spoken to me about the Turing apology and this article the most accurate, and because someone reminded me of it today.

I'm sure there are those who would shout cries of 'self-aggrandizement!' about you submitting this, but instead I'd like to offer my sincere thanks for doing so, and even deeper thanks for taking this on as a cause years ago. Bravo.

Don't thank me. I think the takeaway is go do something amazing because it's possible to do so!

Thank you for bringing some positivity to my day!

I'm sure I speak for many when I say thank you for fighting the good fight, in particular one that puts both individual choice and governmental responsiveness in a positive light.

I regret that I have only one upvote to give to this comment.

Posting old content is fine, but the title should be marked with: (2014)

Regardless of who was the true father of computing, Von Neumann or Turing, or any of that: what the UK government did to a patriot who was instrumental in helping win the war was atrocious in its own right gay or not. And I honestly believe the government got off easy in only issuing an apology. I don't know what a commensurate action would have been but an apology just seems fleeting and a lot like a cop-out.

Britain still had homophobic laws until early 2000 (section 28). The lack of contrition among the bad actors involved is pretty striking. The government's past behaviour should be treated as abhorrent and criminal.

> what the UK government did to a patriot who was instrumental in helping win the war was atrocious in its own right gay or not

What he did in the war has absolutely nothing to do with how awful what they did was.

edit: I remember reading about the apology, and at first thought it was great. Then I read that a homosexual group wasn't in support, and the reasoning was that the UK prosecuted thousands under these laws. That made a lot of sense to me.

Turing shouldn't be a special case just because he did such great things. He should be celebrated for what he did. He should be given an apology along with everyone else who was ever tried under these evil laws.

I mean, it is likely that no one in the UK government in 2009 even knew Turing or had anything to do with his persecution. The UK decriminalized homosexual acts between men in 1967 and added further legislation in 1994 and 2000. More likely some of the people in government in 2009 had helped draft the most recent legislation and had no problem with Turing being a homosexual...

I think making the statement is powerful and meaningful in and of itself, even if no one is still around from when it happened.

On the other hand, the Government as an organisational entity is a direct continuation from past Governments which did terrible things. Organisations are not just the people who currently make them up - they're long-living entities in their own right with sometimes vast history that resulted in what they are today. The organisation - and the people in it - shouldn't get to reap the benefits of its history while simultaneously ignoring anything harmful it might've done.

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