Alan Turing: The Life and Times

The announcement of ‘The Alan Turing institute,’ got me thinking about the legendary genius. Who was he, how did he live his life and what was his legacy?

Anybody who readers the OliverRawlings blog knows that I have a major interest in technology. The way technology changes our world with every new discovery, every practical application, fascinates me. That’s why I’ve long been interested in the life and times of Alan Turing.

His name has entered popular discourse in recent years due to his personal life. Alan Turing was gay in a time where it was illegal to be gay in Britain, and got caught. He was tried, convicted and chemically castrated in 1952. He died from cyanide poisoning at the age of 42 in 1954.

This injustice has led in recent times to a campaign to strike down Turing’s 1952  conviction for homosexuality, based on both the fact that it is now no longer illegal and on the great work he did that changed the world forever. He received a posthumous royal pardon. What was that great work?

Essentially, Turing was a mathematician, logician, cryptanalyst, computer scientist and philosopher. He is perhaps most famous as being a significant contributor to the moderncomputer, through his ‘Turing Machine.’ This means that he’s basically regarded as the father of modern computer science.

The implications of this are enormous. Think about how much the computer has contributed to our world. So much modern technology depends on computer science, that without it, this world would still be stuck in the 19^th Century. Forget smartphones and laptops, we never even would have got the basic computer.

This wasn’t Turing’s only contribution to the world in his lifetime. During the Second World War, he worked at Bletchley Park, the government’s infamous code breaking headquarters. He was vital to the effort to develop the Enigma machine, the device which enabled the allies to understand and manipulate coded Nazi messages.

Again, the magnitude of this work on the modern world is astounding. Have you ever read one of those dystopic novels about how the world went to hell in a hand basket because the Nazi’s won the Second World War?  Yeah… Alan Turing had a large role in stopping that.

Despite his tragic and undeserved end, Alan Turing was a great British hero, and his work influenced modern life in numerous ways. I’m glad that the man himself is being remembered and celebrated as the genius he undoubtedly was. 

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Now Sochi’s Over, What did it All Mean?

Last Sunday saw the official end of the Olympic Games held in Sochi. Considering the controversy they caused before they started, I wanted to ask what did it all mean?

Oliver Rawlings readers you must remember all the debate and discussion that took place before the Winter Olympics this year. People were furious that they games were taking place in Russia.

Russia is a country that under the leadership of Vladimir Putin has become notorious for its anti-gay laws and for the imprisonment of political prisoners. Human rights campaigners were incensed that the IOC could even think of holding the Winter Olympics in such a place.

However despite the protests the Winter Olympics did indeed take place in Sochi. Now that they’re over we have to consider how it all went and was it really as bad as people thought it would be?

The games largely went off without a hitch. With the exception of an Olympic ring not lighting up in the opening ceremony, there were no terrorism threats, no major international incidents etc. The sports gripped the people of the world, as always and it took place as any other winter Olympics would.

However it didn’t take place without incident. Human rights campaigners including punk band pussy riot were arrested and allegedly beaten for protesting at Sochi. There is evidence to suggest that when confronted with the internationally recognised right to protest, Putin was ready and able to crush opposition.

However despite the fact that these incidents gained some media coverage, they didn’t gain anywhere near as much as they would have done before the games. These arrests gained some coverage but often the events themselves grabbed the bolder font in the national papers.

This seems like an anomaly to me. Don’t get me wrong, I know the Olympic Games are important. They promote honest values through friendly competition and foster international relations. However to me it seems a little irresponsible to be emphasising curling and hockey matches over human rights issues.

So what was Sochi really all about Oliver Rawlings readers? Some would suggest that despite everything it was still the Winter Olympics and as such the focus should be on sport. However I would suggest that this neglects the underlying concept of the games; to promote international relations.

We don’t make this world a better place for us all to live by ignoring the issues that we’re facing as an international community. That’s what for me Sochi was really all about. 

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What’s with all the Weather?

Britain has been hit by a series of floods caused by torrential rain over the past few weeks. Why are we having these freak weather patterns and what does it say about the future.

If you live on the west coast or in the south of England it truly has been a miserable few weeks for you. Continuous downpours have caused rivers to break their banks and pavements to turn into veritable lakes. As a consequence swathes of these areas have flooded.

The effect has been enormous. Properties have been damaged, livelihoods cost, natural vistas ruined. Politicians are now even getting in on the act, trampling down the flooded walkways in wellies just waiting for the next photo op.

Furthermore experts predict (rather grimly) that these conditions could last for months. Then apparently we’re in for the hottest summer on record. How any summer can be hotter than the last one, I’ll never know, but it’ll certainly be interesting to found out.

However we’re not the only ones who have experienced freak weather conditions. America has experienced its fair share lately as well. Anyone heard of the polar vortex?

The polar vortex is a bitterly cold wind that is usually trapped in the artic due to atmospheric conditions. However these conditions broke and the polar vortex travelled down to America causing temperature lows not seen on record. People had icicles growing on their faces; it was a sight to behold.

Furthermore the temperate south of the US has not been spared the ravages of these freak weather patterns. Southern hubs such as Atlanta and Birmingham, places usually notable for their warm weather, have been gridlocked by snow storms that have raged across the US south.

So what’s causing all this?  Scientists say global warming, which involves the temperature of the earth rising due to changes in atmospheric conditions caused by CO2 emissions. This would certainly explain the polar vortex, as global warming has been proved to have contributed to the melting of the polar icecaps.

I don’t know whether it’s global warming; there’s so much doubt around this hot button topic and I’m not a scientist so I couldn’t speak on this with any authority. However what is clear is that something has indeed changed.

This means that life as we know it could very well be different to the way it has always been. All predictions point to the fact that we haven’t seen the last of this unusual weather so people across the world are just going to have to learn to deal with it. Only time will tell if they actually do. 

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What was the Deal with Flappy Bird?

Anybody who reads the technology section of their chosen online news provider will have heard about the debate that has risen around flappy bird. What is flappy bird and why is it such a big deal?

For those of you Oliver Rawlings readers who have been living under a rock for the past few weeks, flappy bird is an app-game, in the same mold as Angry Birds and their ilk.

Specifically it’s a kind of retro style smartphone app game featuring 2D graphics that are a throwback to the days of the 1980’s. Basically you have to direct a flying bird, which keeps moving of its own accord to the right, through a set of obstacles.

Easy right? Nothing special about that right? Wrong. It’s unbelievably hard to actually do.  Seriously that little bird is annoying. However, people tend to like hard and annoying, for some reason. This has led to flappy bird becoming the most addictive app game since angry birds (I still prefer classic snake for the nokia though).

Addictive means popular in this modern world. Since it was first introduced in March, it has boomed in popularity and has become a staple on app screens across the world. You couldn’t go anywhere by the end of 2013 without hearing about that annoying little flappy bird.

However the game clearly peaked too early. The creator of the game got so annoyed with it that they decided to discontinue it. Furthermore Google’s app store has now banned a series of flappy bird clones that became popular in the wake of the discontinuation.

However this isn’t the end of flappy bird. A whole  new generation of flappy clones such as flappy bee are now becoming popular; it’s clear  there’s still a strong public demand for this most annoying of smartphone games.

I really think that this international incident, as trivial as it is, says something intrinsic about human nature. As a community we are fascinated by what we cannot do and what we cannot have; it’s the whole ‘grass is greener’ thing for the modern day.

So it stands to reason that the more difficult the game is, the more addictive it is, the more popular it becomes. Crazy but true. It looks clear, Oliver Rawlings readers, that we are looking at the future. Humanity is always looking for that next adventure, that next challenge. It appears that even smartphone app games are no exception when it comes to this most basic of human truths. 

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