Alan Turing Gets an Apology From Prime Minister Brown

99luftballon writes "The British government has officially apologized for the treatment of Alan Turing in the post war era. An online petition got more than enough signatures to force an official statement and Prime Minister Gordon Brown has issued a lengthy apology. 'Thousands of people have come together to demand justice for Alan Turing and recognition of the appalling way he was treated. While Turing was dealt with under the law of the time and we can't put the clock back, his treatment was of course utterly unfair and I am pleased to have the chance to say how deeply sorry I and we all are for what happened to him. So on behalf of the British government, and all those who live freely thanks to Alan's work I am very proud to say: we're sorry, you deserved so much better.'"

Hmmm!

[resistant]

It's nice to see a politician who can actually pass the Turing test.

Re:Proud to be sorry, an odd concept

[segedunum]

You're obviously not familiar with Gordon Brown as a literary wordsmith.

Re:Hmmm!

[Anonymous Coward]

The Turing Test is not a measure of intelligence, human or machine. It is a test of whether or not a human can be FOULED into believe a machine is a human, and it was passed long ago by a very simple program (ELIZA).

Re:Proud to be sorry, an odd concept

[Anonymous Coward]

"Liberal" means something entirely different in the US than it does in the Czech Republic.

Gordon Brown's apology not enough

[Gizzmonic]

Stop me if someone else has already addressed this point-but why not re-animate him as a zombie? Gay Zombie Turing would be amazed at the amount of rights homosexuals have today, although I assume he'd be more appalled at what passes for sophistication these days.

Re:Hmmm!

[eclectro]

I'm sure the apology caused Alan Turing to halt for a moment.

Re:whatever

[Anonymous Coward]

I believe you mean a "poof" not a "puff" </pedantic>

Re:Hmmm!

[russotto]

I'm sure the apology caused Alan Turing to halt for a moment.

You'll never prove it.

Re:Online petition

[Tumbleweed]

Since when is an online petition worth more than a squirt of piss?

I'm pretty sure aiming a quart of piss at PM Brown wouldn't have gotten the same response.

Pretty sure, anyway. Ya never know with those Brits...

Not the best choice of phrase

[FlyingSquidStudios]

"We can't put the clock back" sounds awfully inappropriate in an apology for chemically castrating someone.

Why geeks don't care about homosexuality

[trout007]

Feel free to add more. 1. We are happy when anyone gets laid 2. The heterosexual geeks aren't threatened. I mean if we can't get girls to find us attractive no gay guy would. 3. Decreases denominator in available (girl/guy) ratio.

Check. Next up...

[ysth]

Oscar Wilde

Re:Gordon Brown's apology not enough

[Landshark17]

Gay Zombie Turing would be fantastically impressed by the rights homosexuals have today, but he would sadly be the victim of much descrimination as a zombie, since prejudice against them is still wide-spread and well-rooted.

Re:Gordon Brown's apology not enough

[Anonymous Coward]

Are you kidding? Have you seen how zombies are treated? Someone else would just have to apologise to decapitated zombie gay Turing in 2059...

Re:It's about damn time.

[Fael]

There's a Turing machine for that.

Re:Online petition

[Idarubicin]

...a quart of piss...

You crazy Yanks and your bizarre 'English' language. The correct UK spelling is B-U-D-W-E-I-S-E-R. And it comes in pints, not quarts.

Re:Not really...

[dissy]

Its easy to say you are sorry for something that you didn't do and weren't accused of doing.

Yea you're right. I'm sorry :(

Re:It's about damn time.

[Kratisto]

Yeah, Hitler was more the case where, the enemy of my enemy is FUCK IT INVADE RUSSIA WHAT COULD GO WRONG?

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:It's about damn time.

[fatalwall]

I think it would have been better if they had apologized to the hole community for the law ever being on the books and the effect it had on those involved.

Re:Not forced

[KeensMustard]

The 2nd amendment to what? The Basset Hound Breeders Handbook?

Re:Proud to be sorry, an odd concept

[93 Escort Wagon]

Don't get me wrong, I feel the statement is fine and all that, just strikes me as weird to put those two concepts together.

The BBC would like to apologize for the previous apology.

Re:It's about damn time.

[Maso]

You do *not* want to make philosophers angry...I did it once and I think I got away with it, others, not so lucky.

Re:It's about damn time.

[Hognoxious]

If only Alan was alive today...

He'd be screaming "Get me out of this box!!!"

Re:It's about damn time.

[Xiph]

And while it doesn't help me directly, it seems this phrase will get modded up.

I genuinly appriciate it too.

ps. i prefer insightful over funny, i'm not just a joker, i'm a karmawhore too!

Re:It's about damn time.

[halcyon1234]

Don't just make up quotes and attribute them to Plato. It makes philosophers really angry.

- Aristotle, "On Memory and Reminiscence" (BC 350)

Re:It's about damn time.

[Rogerborg]

Oh, just call him a Nazi and be done with it.

Re:It's about damn time.

[amplt1337]

...so... humanities departments are basically a botnet executing a DDoS on the brains of unsuspecting undergraduates?

Re:It's about damn time.

[snspdaarf]

This girl I knew in high school was a Thespian. Got a flat top with fenders, drank whiskey, and ran a bike shop...
What?
Oh. Never mind

Re:It's about damn time.

[FatalTourist]

Plato said that there is no true measure of justice, but it is important for a government to give the appearance of justice to society. This is a textbook example of that in action.

Don't just make up quotes and attribute them to Plato. It makes philosophers really angry.

"I really said that" - Plato