{"id":2209,"date":"2014-11-30T08:46:01","date_gmt":"2014-11-30T13:46:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/pamphlet\/?p=2209"},"modified":"2015-02-08T21:39:57","modified_gmt":"2015-02-09T02:39:57","slug":"the-turing-moment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/pamphlet\/2014\/11\/30\/the-turing-moment\/","title":{"rendered":"The Turing moment"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n
\"Ed<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u2026less histrionic\u2026<\/span>
\nEd Stoppard as Alan Turing in Codebreaker<\/em><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

We seem to be at the \u201cTuring moment\u201d, what with Benedict Cumberbatch, erstwhile Sherlock Holmes<\/a>, now starring as a Hollywood Alan Turing in The Imitation Game<\/em><\/a>. The release culminates a series of Turing-related events over the last few years. The centennial of Turing\u2019s 1912 birth was celebrated actively in the computer science community as a kind of jubilee, the occasion of numerous conferences, retrospectives, and presentations. Bracketing that celebration, PM Gordon Brown publicly apologized<\/a> for Britain\u2019s horrific treatment of Turing in 2009, and HRH Queen Elizabeth II, who was crowned a couple of years before Alan Turing took his own life as his escape from her government\u2019s abuse, finally got around to pardoning him in 2013<\/a> for the crime of being gay.<\/p>\n

I went to see a preview of The Imitation Game<\/em> at the Coolidge Corner Theatre<\/a>\u2019s \u201cScience on Screen<\/a>\u201d series. I had low expectations, and I was not disappointed. The film is introduced as being \u201cbased on a true story\u201d, and so it is \u2013 in the sense that My Fair Lady<\/em><\/a> was based on the myth of Pygmalion (rather than the Shaw play). Yes, there was a real place called Bletchley Park<\/a>, and real people named Alan Turing and Joan Clark, but no, they weren\u2019t really like that. Turing didn\u2019t break the Enigma code<\/a> singlehandedly despite the efforts of his colleagues to stop him. Turing didn\u2019t take it upon himself to control the resulting intelligence to limit the odds of their break being leaked to the enemy. And so on, and so forth. Most importantly, Turing did not attempt to hide his homosexuality from the authorities, and promoting the idea that he did for dramatic effect is, frankly, an injustice to his memory.<\/p>\n

Reviewers seem generally to appreciate the movie\u2019s cleaving from reality, though with varying opprobrium. \u201cThe truth of history is respected just enough to make room for tidy and engrossing drama<\/a>,\u201d says A. O. Scott in the New York Times<\/em>. The Wall Street Journal<\/em>\u2019s Joe Morgenstern ascribes to the film \u201ca marvelous story about science and humanity, plus a great performance by Benedict Cumberbatch, plus first-rate filmmaking and cinematography, minus a script that muddles its source material to the point of betraying it.<\/a>\u201d At Slate, Dana Stevens notes that \u201cThe true life story of Alan Turing is much stranger, sadder and more troubling than the version of it on view in The Imitation Game<\/em>, Morton Tyldum\u2019s handsome but overlaundered biopic.<\/a>\u201d<\/p>\n

Of course, they didn\u2019t make the movie for people like me, that is, people who had heard of Alan Turing before. And to the extent that the film contributes to this Turing moment \u2014 leading viewers to look further into this most idiosyncratic and important person \u2014 it will be a good thing. The Coolidge Corner Theatre event was followed by commentary from Silvio Micali<\/a> and Seth Lloyd<\/a>, both professors at MIT. (The former is a recipient of the highest honor in computer science, the Turing Award<\/a>. Yes, that Turing.) Their comments brought out the many scientific contributions of Turing that were given short shrift in the film. If only they could duplicate their performance at every showing.<\/p>\n

Those who become intrigued by the story of Alan Turing could do worse than follow up their viewing of the Cumberbatch vehicle with one of the 2012 docudrama Codebreaker<\/em><\/a>, a less histrionic but far more accurate (and surprisingly, more sweeping) presentation of Turing\u2019s contributions to science and society, and his societal treatment. I had the pleasure of introducing the film and its executive producer Patrick Sammon in a screening at Harvard a couple of weeks ago<\/a>. The event was another indicator of the Turing moment. (My colleague Harry Lewis has more to say about the film<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

To all of you who are aware of the far-reaching impact of Alan Turing on science, on history, and on society, and the tragedy of his premature death, I hope you will take advantage of the present Turing moment to spread the word about computer science\u2019s central personage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2026less histrionic\u2026 Ed Stoppard as Alan Turing in Codebreaker We seem to be at the \u201cTuring moment\u201d, what with Benedict Cumberbatch, erstwhile Sherlock Holmes, now starring as a Hollywood Alan Turing in The Imitation Game. The release culminates a series of Turing-related events over the last few years. The centennial of Turing\u2019s 1912 birth was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2110,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[13256,380],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2209","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-alan-turing","category-computer-science"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5pLfN-zD","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":321,"url":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/pamphlet\/2009\/09\/13\/britain-apologizes-for-treatment-of-alan-turing\/","url_meta":{"origin":2209,"position":0},"title":"Britain apologizes for treatment of Alan Turing","author":"Stuart Shieber","date":"Sunday, September 13, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Image by Whimsical Chris via Flickr Prime Minister Gordon Brown has apologized on behalf of the British government for the appalling treatment of Alan Turing, who was obliged to undergo chemical castration for the crime of being gay. Prime Minister Brown's statement in the Telegraph follows an online petition drive\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Alan Turing"","block_context":{"text":"Alan Turing","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/pamphlet\/category\/computer-science\/alan-turing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Alan Turing","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm3.static.flickr.com\/2081\/2042538753_f102fe97df_m.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2271,"url":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/pamphlet\/2015\/05\/07\/in-support-of-behavioral-tests-of-intelligence\/","url_meta":{"origin":2209,"position":1},"title":"In support of behavioral tests of intelligence","author":"Stuart Shieber","date":"Thursday, May 7, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"\u2026\u201cblockhead\u201d argument\u2026 \"Blockhead by Paul McCarthy @ Tate Modern\" image from flickr user Matt Hobbs. Used by permission. Alan Turing proposed what is the best known criterion for attributing intelligence, the capacity for thinking, to a computer. We call it the Turing Test, and it involves comparing the computer\u2019s verbal\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Alan Turing"","block_context":{"text":"Alan Turing","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/pamphlet\/category\/computer-science\/alan-turing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1481,"url":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/pamphlet\/2012\/06\/16\/talmud-and-the-turing-test\/","url_meta":{"origin":2209,"position":2},"title":"Talmud and the Turing Test","author":"Stuart Shieber","date":"Saturday, June 16, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"...the Golem... Image of the statue of the Golem of Prague at the entrance to the Jewish Quarter of Prague by flickr user D_P_R. Used by permission (CC-BY 2.0). Alan Turing, the patron saint of computer science, was born 100 years ago this week (June 23). I\u2019ll be attending the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Alan Turing"","block_context":{"text":"Alan Turing","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/pamphlet\/category\/computer-science\/alan-turing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2218,"url":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/pamphlet\/2015\/02\/18\/the-two-guildford-mathematicians\/","url_meta":{"origin":2209,"position":3},"title":"The two Guildford mathematicians","author":"Stuart Shieber","date":"Wednesday, February 18, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"\u2026the huge ledger\u2026 Still from Codebreaker showing Turing's checkout of three Carroll books. The charming town of Guildford, 40 minutes southwest of London on South West Trains, is associated with two famous British logician-mathematicians. Alan Turing (on whom I seem to perseverate) spent time there after 1927, when his parents\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Alan Turing"","block_context":{"text":"Alan Turing","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/pamphlet\/category\/computer-science\/alan-turing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2132,"url":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/pamphlet\/2014\/06\/10\/no-the-turing-test-has-not-been-passed\/","url_meta":{"origin":2209,"position":4},"title":"No, the Turing Test has not been passed.","author":"Stuart Shieber","date":"Tuesday, June 10, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"\u2026that's not Turing's Test\u2026 \u201cTuring Test\u201d image from xkcd. Used by permission. There has been a flurry of interest in the Turing Test in the last few days, precipitated by a claim that (at last!) a program has passed the Test. The program in question is called \"Eugene Goostman\" and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Alan Turing"","block_context":{"text":"Alan Turing","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/pamphlet\/category\/computer-science\/alan-turing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1610,"url":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/pamphlet\/2013\/01\/13\/aaron-swartzs-legacy\/","url_meta":{"origin":2209,"position":5},"title":"Aaron Swartz’s legacy","author":"Stuart Shieber","date":"Sunday, January 13, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Government zealotry in prosecuting brilliant people is a repeating theme. It gave rise to one of the great intellectual tragedies of the 20th century, the death of Alan Turing after his appalling treatment by the British government. Sadly, we have just been presented with another case. Aaron Swartz committed suicide\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Alan Turing"","block_context":{"text":"Alan Turing","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/pamphlet\/category\/computer-science\/alan-turing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/pamphlet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2209","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/pamphlet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/pamphlet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/pamphlet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2110"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/pamphlet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2209"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/pamphlet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2209\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2213,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/pamphlet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2209\/revisions\/2213"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/pamphlet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2209"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/pamphlet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2209"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/pamphlet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2209"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}