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> The government kept a guard by his death bed to be sure he didn't divulge any state secrets while on mind numbing pain medications. i am curious of the logis
by nikofeyn 8y ago
> The government kept a guard by his death bed to be sure he didn't divulge any state secrets while on mind numbing pain medications.
i am curious of the logistics of this. if they were there, outside of his room, to simply safeguard against the visit of unauthorized visitors during his weak moments, this seems like it could work in a way that doesn't interrupt his last moments with friends and family.
if they were literally at his bed safeguarding information, that seems quite intrusive for someone who did monumental tasks for the government. and it isn't even clear what their gameplan would be in this case. do they instruct a potentially non-coherent person to shut-up or the nurses to put him out?
hopefully it was the first of these.
- psykotic 8y ago> if they were literally at his bed safeguarding information, that seems quite intrusive for someone who did monumental tasks for the government. and it isn't even clear what their gameplan would be in this case. The British state forcibly sterilized Turing who was instrumental in the allied war effort in a greater or equal capacity to von Neumann. "Quite intrusive" is a monumental understatement of what governments will do to protect their perceived interests.
- CamperBob2 8y agoAnother example would be Oppenheimer, who got perhaps the rawest deal from the government since the Indian treaties.
- EGreg 8y agoPer, good to see you commenting on HN. I know I’m gonna get downvoted since this doesn’t fit the forum but just wanted to say hi.