• dragontamer@lemmy.world
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    9 days ago

    Alan Turing, the father of modern computers, has an incredibly depressing ending.

    Chemically castrated due to being an illegal homosexual, he died in dishonor over bullshit homophobia and new drugs that the 1950s possessed.

  • owenfromcanada@lemmy.ca
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    9 days ago

    Alan Turing was the father of computer science, but didn’t invent the first computer. Arguably the first computer was called the Manchester Baby and was created by folks at the University of Manchester.

    Alan Turing was an absolute boss, though. Huge respect.

        • owenfromcanada@lemmy.ca
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          9 days ago

          Yeah, there were plenty of precursors (hence the MB was arguably the first). But the Manchester Baby was the first stored-program general purpose computer. Gotta pick a point somewhere.

          • BassTurd@lemmy.world
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            9 days ago

            I think it’s a fun debate between all of them. It doesn’t really matter, but I enjoy reading the reasoning behind each argument.

            • owenfromcanada@lemmy.ca
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              9 days ago

              Yeah, the whole history is fascinating. I also like to remind my college students that computer science/engineering is one of the rare branches of science/engineering that was founded at least in equal part by women, if not more (again, an arguable point, but undeniable that there is a larger influence from women compared to other scientific disciplines).

          • Madison420@lemmy.world
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            9 days ago

            Colossus is still early then all of those are we still really don’t know exactly when construction started because of state secrets and whatnot.

    • Honytawk@feddit.nl
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      9 days ago

      Depends entirely on the definition of computer.

      There are so many “inventors of the first computers” it is ridiculous. Almost like creating a complex machine like a computer takes a whole many inventions and people who worked on it over a time span of multiple generations.

  • kryptonianCodeMonkey@lemmy.world
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    9 days ago

    Alan Turing, the inventor of the first computer*, was castrated by the British Government for being gay.

    FTFY

    *Not exactly, but not to diminish his immense contributions to computer science

    • Adalast@lemmy.world
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      9 days ago

      Thank you. That part got my pedantic ass in a tizzy. Glad someone else mentioned it.

  • Armand1@lemmy.world
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    9 days ago

    I don’t think he’s necessarily the inventor of the computer. There are a few possible candidates, including Ada Lovelace or Charles Babbage, who were earlier.

  • MehBlah@lemmy.world
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    9 days ago

    Being gay didn’t contribute to his death. How the state treated him when they found out did. Anytime his name comes up I think about how many horrible people there are in the world who just can’t let others be what they are . Fanatics are somewhat evil by nature.

  • SoftestSapphic@lemmy.world
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    9 days ago

    He ended WW2 at least half a year earlier than it would have.

    He saved hundreds of thousands of lives, maybe millions.

    Then he returned home to England as a war hero, but was instead exiled and chemically castrated for being a homosexual.

    Not much later he committed suicide.

    It was Alan that first opened my eyes as a child to the senseless violence committed against LGBTQIA+

    Every June 23rd I make sure to remember him and all he has done for humanity.

    Rip Alan Turing, the father of computer science, i love you.

  • Lvxferre [he/him]@mander.xyz
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    9 days ago

    I named* my first self-built computer after him! Does this make that machine gay? They put chemicals in the bytes that turn the friggin’ hardware gay!

    *call me a weirdo but I do often name stuff like household appliances and my trees.

      • Lvxferre [he/him]@mander.xyz
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        3 days ago

        Turing is gone for years; got replaced with Midgard and then Tiberis, the current machine. Here’s Tiberis:


        inb4 my desk is a mess and to be replaced, and I need to clean Tiberis’ guts. The pics highlight how dirty it is.

        specs
        • CPU - Ryzen 7 5700X3D
        • GPU - Biostar AMD Radeon RX 6600
        • Motherboard - Gigabyte B550M Aorus Elite
        • RAM - Apacer Nox, RGB, 2*16GB
        • SSD - Adata SU650 480GB, Sata III
        • HDD - a Seagate 2TB, I don’t recall further info
        • Power supply - Gamdias Cyclops M1-750B
        • Fans - Aigo Darkflash DR08, ARGB
        • LED strip - Pichau MAG 200, ARGB
        • Case - a second hand Mancer case a friend sold me.
          • Lvxferre [he/him]@mander.xyz
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            1 day ago

            Fair - what I said was kind of ambiguous. But yeah, “self-built” as “I bought a computer-of-Theseus 20y ago, and as I’ve bought new parts nothing of the original remains, so it’s a new computer.”

      • TeddE@lemmy.world
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        9 days ago

        Technically true, but as an admin with root priviledges, I can access system private keys and directly manage it’s identity, such that it’s choice is usually what I told it to want.

        Tangent, boy I cannot wait for neurolink to let Grok in my brain. I’m sure it will lead to lots of new ways of thinking for me. 🙃😶😶🙄

    • Dicska@lemmy.world
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      9 days ago

      My friend’s mom occasionally gives full names, like forename+surname and uses them as such

      • Lvxferre [he/him]@mander.xyz
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        8 days ago

        I don’t go so far. Only my pets get a surname, and it’s the family’s surname. (Some of the household appliances have kind of melodramatic names though, specially if they break often. Like Solineuza, the washing machine.)

  • Agent641@lemmy.world
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    9 days ago

    When you use the computer, first think you do is put your hands on the keyboard, specifically, you touch the D. This extracts all the heterosexuality from your body. If you’re lucky, this effect is only temporary.