Re: The Macintosh is a girl's computer!

T i m <news@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On Sun, 1 Apr 2007 14:48:12 +0100, real-address-in-sig@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
(Rowland McDonnell) wrote:



Werl, sort of - but it was only by that stage that he was being
indiscreet, you know? Back in the Bletchley days, Turing kept his
private affairs private. It was only in later years that he let it be
obvious in public that he had a boyfriend and they were shagging,
y'know? That was the *real* `crime' - letting it show.

Well yes, that would be indecent exposure, or if the OP is right then
with long term Mac use, 'inadequate exposure' ? ;-)

But as you say maybe Alan's downfall was 'coming out' 1) in his high
profile position and 2) too soon afa social tolerance was concerned
(at that time).

By 1952 Turing had become an anomaly.
During the war, with trust being based in the first place
on being 'the right kind of person' Turing could contribute. [1]

By 1952, with cold war hysteria near it's peak
somebody like Turing couldn't be trusted with anything.
Trust had become based on 'positive vetting':
there shouldn't be any indication against you.

Yet there he was, in full possession
of some the most secret of secrets his country had.
'Discovering' his homosexuality was a convenient way
of taking away his security clearance
and killing him socially.

Best,

Jan

[1] In Hodges' summary:
in 1939 the English trusted (the right kind of) people,
the Germans distrusted everybody, and put their faith in machines.
In consequence the UK could use a misfit like Turing
to work something that amounted to almost a miracle.
The Germans otoh never could bring themselves
to believe that their Enigma could have been broken.
They firmly believed up to the end
that the undeniable British knowledge of their moves
must be due to treason in their ranks.

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: The Macintosh is a girls computer!
    ... the drugs or prison... ... It wasn't Turing who changed, it was his government, ... in the cold war hysteria that followed WW II. ...
    (uk.comp.sys.mac)
  • Re: The Macintosh is a girls computer!
    ... finished' and everything to do with Turing's changed behaviour. ... It wasn't Turing who changed, it was his government, ... in the cold war hysteria that followed WW II. ... [snip kayaks and all that] ...
    (uk.comp.sys.mac)