Have you heard of the Turing Test? Coined by the
great Alan Turing, it is the ultimate test for a computer; that a human should
mistake it for another human. At the time he came up with the idea, the washing
machine was the big thing in technology and the very thought must have seemed
incredible. Turing was in the news last week, when the Director of British
intelligence-gathering operation GCHQ, made a speech calling for a new
generation of Alan Turings. Turing, famous as the great codebreaker of Bletchley
Park, was the founder of modern computing. He created the blueprint for the
first recognisable computer, created the first algorithm and developed the
concept of a computer programme. Arguably, through his work at Bletchley Park,
Turing did more than any other single individual to win the war, and then did
more than any other single individual to create the world in which we now live.
It is almost impossible to overstate his legacy.
And yet, less than ten years after the then 33-year old Turing left Bletchley Park, he was dead. In 1952, he was burgled by an accomplice of his male lover. Rightly, he reported the crime to the police. Turing was arrested and charged with gross indecency.
It may seem incredible to us today, but his sentence (offered as an alternative to imprisonment) was a course of synthetic oestrogen, designed to prevent reoffending. It worked. He became impotent, and suffered the humiliation of growing breasts. He lost his security clearance and was fired from GCHQ. Two years' later, he was found dead, killed by cyanide poisoning. The inquest reported suicide. He was 42.
Just imagine what might have happened had he lived? Perhaps aged 64, he would have met the young Steve Jobs on a rare visit to California and formed a bond with the man who would do more than anyone else to popularise his invention? Perhaps aged 78 he would have kept a paternal eye on the two young founders of Google, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, who would set as their mission the task of decoding everything for everyone. And, had he lived long enough to receive a birthday card from the Queen, perhaps the centenarian Turing would have taken his place alongside Sir Tim Berners-Lee as part of Danny Boyle's Olympic opening ceremony; the two great (British) pioneers of computing united in unaccustomed acclaim.
Who knows? We will never know, because he died sixty years ago. One of the finest minds this country ever produced was cut down by some of the smallest.
In one sense it is a mark of how far we have progressed that this story is as shocking as it is. In a week which has also seen the exposure of Sir Jimmy Savile's child abuse (some of which dates from the same decade), it is clear how much society has changed. The Tory Mayor of London, writing in today’s Evening Standard says he “can’t see what the fuss is about” with the legalisation of gay marriage.
And yet, less than ten years after the then 33-year old Turing left Bletchley Park, he was dead. In 1952, he was burgled by an accomplice of his male lover. Rightly, he reported the crime to the police. Turing was arrested and charged with gross indecency.
It may seem incredible to us today, but his sentence (offered as an alternative to imprisonment) was a course of synthetic oestrogen, designed to prevent reoffending. It worked. He became impotent, and suffered the humiliation of growing breasts. He lost his security clearance and was fired from GCHQ. Two years' later, he was found dead, killed by cyanide poisoning. The inquest reported suicide. He was 42.
Just imagine what might have happened had he lived? Perhaps aged 64, he would have met the young Steve Jobs on a rare visit to California and formed a bond with the man who would do more than anyone else to popularise his invention? Perhaps aged 78 he would have kept a paternal eye on the two young founders of Google, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, who would set as their mission the task of decoding everything for everyone. And, had he lived long enough to receive a birthday card from the Queen, perhaps the centenarian Turing would have taken his place alongside Sir Tim Berners-Lee as part of Danny Boyle's Olympic opening ceremony; the two great (British) pioneers of computing united in unaccustomed acclaim.
Who knows? We will never know, because he died sixty years ago. One of the finest minds this country ever produced was cut down by some of the smallest.
In one sense it is a mark of how far we have progressed that this story is as shocking as it is. In a week which has also seen the exposure of Sir Jimmy Savile's child abuse (some of which dates from the same decade), it is clear how much society has changed. The Tory Mayor of London, writing in today’s Evening Standard says he “can’t see what the fuss is about” with the legalisation of gay marriage.
To those of us in the metropolitan, liberal capital
it feels like we’re on an inevitable path. We’re not. There’s no such thing. As
the generation that remembers 1950s Britain ages, it is the responsibility of
all us to make sure we don’t go back to it.
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