12 ms·
These announcements always make me ponder about the people we'll put on bank notes or erect statues in honour of in 50 years and are alive and persecuted today
by johnchristopher 7y ago
These announcements always make me ponder about the people we'll put on bank notes or erect statues in honour of in 50 years and are alive and persecuted today but not recognized by society.
- elevenoh 7y agoRoss Ulbricht 50 yrs from faceOnBankNotes?
- pricees 7y agoJohn McAfee on the US $1,000,000 bill?
- jacquesm 7y agoI don't think either of those deserve to be mentioned in the same way as Alan Turing, and no amount of time passing will change that. Note that Alan Turing was persecuted for what he was, not for what he did. I also don't think there will be an ACM award named for either.
- Throw_Away_5382 7y ago> Note that Alan Turing was persecuted for what he was, not for what he did. No, he was prosecuted for having sex with other men. That is something he did. Being homosexual was never illegal.
- michaelmrose 7y agoThe law against homosexual sex does nothing to increase the welfare of their fellow man and prevents individuals from finding fulfilling love. It was an evil law and people should be proud for defying it not ashamed because their love was stronger than your hate.
- jacquesm 7y agoWhat a crap comment, I can see why you chose to use a throwaway account. That's about the same as saying that a law against breathing would make all of us illegals because it is something that we did, rather than that breathing is a direct result of being alive as a mammal. Sex is a natural thing. If you outlaw sex then you are by definition creating criminals, and you might as well name it for what it is: a law against certain groups of people. The act itself is merely the stick used to hit them with in a legal way.
- heavenlyblue 7y agoWell, morally speaking having sex with a man went against the “morals of the time”. We changed our collective opinion since then. Now what Ross Ulbricht did is amoral today - but are you so sure we will not change our opinion about this act in a few decades? If people didn’t continue with their “amoral homosexuality” we could have never accepted it to be he norm. They are the heroes of their times. In many ways, what Ulbricht had done may become a viable method of policing organisations that are “too big to be policed”.
- jacquesm 7y agoI'm going to guess that you weren't aware of this: https://www.wired.com/2015/02/read-transcript-silk-roads-boss-ordering-5-assassinations/ https://www.wired.com/2015/02/read-transcript-silk-roads-bos...
- Throw_Away_5382 7y ago> What a crap comment, I can see why you chose to use a throwaway account. I always use throw away accounts. I also don't understand why people are so sensitive to this. I have once been permanently banned from r/de for making a similar point (although I could reverse it with the help of another Redditor). > That's about the same as saying that a law against breathing would make all of us illegals because it is something that we did, rather than that breathing is a direct result of being alive as a mammal. Sex is a natural thing. If you outlaw sex then you are by definition creating criminals What about laws against incest or sex with animals? Although admittedly, if one wants to have sex with a relative, one is usually still attracted to other people. Also, one could say that it does indeed criminalize the existence of zoophiles, but that this is worth it. (I better don't talk about more controversial examples to not derail the conversation.) Also, some American states make it illegal for minors to have sex. Does that mean they can be persecuted for being minors? > you might as well name it for what it is: a law against certain groups of people. The act itself is merely the stick used to hit them with in a legal way. Are you sure that they didn't just find gay sex disgusting, but would find "non-offending" homosexuals tolerable?
- Stunting 7y agoHot take from a person too scared to comment from their their main internet handle. People who so badly want to strike a win for their values over human empathy, equality, and compassion have to steer common sense arguments into the arena of pedantic details. They have so routinely gotten their butt kicked in the arenas of empathy, equality, and compassion so often they’re ashamed to say what they feel out loud, even with a made up internet handle. They should embrace the shame, it might be the only thing left that tethers them to humanity.
- philwelch 7y ago> They have so routinely gotten their butt kicked in the arenas of empathy, equality, and compassion Ah, gloating about "kicking butt", truly the pinnacle of empathy and compassion. Look, I agree with you, but there's no reason to descend to this guy's level. As old Fred once put it: > He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And if you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss also gazes into you.
- Stunting 7y agoYes dude, I feel you. “Butt kicked” = getting definitely out debated = society recognizing those ideals of hate are not valuable; however you want to phrase it. Sometimes you don’t feed the trolls. Sometimes I read a thing on the internet that is so absurdly hateful and spiteful that nobody responds to and I worry “who out there is reading this, and might be on the fence about some human values. If they don’t see anybody responding to it at all, will they think it’s an acceptable view point?” I’m not gonna save the world, but occasionally I can offer rebuttal to cultural biases. It ain’t much, but it’s something however small.
- geotus 7y agoTrump.
- ashildr 7y agoHis face is already printed on toiled paper, I guess that’s the maximum he‘ll achieve.
- antihero 7y agoHe's a piece of shit but it does make me wonder if society will be so utterly fucked in 50 years that he'll be remembered as a hero
- michaelmrose 7y agoBased on what accomplishments?
- kgraves 7y agoFirst US President to step foot in North Korea. No other President before him has done that.
- michaelmrose 7y agoAny US president could have presented the Kim family with a photo Op. This is not a meaningful accomplishment.
- arcadeparade 7y agoAt the moment you are correct but if things work out with Korea he could be remembered, rightly or wrongly as the person who started a new path.
- michaelmrose 7y agoHe started by ridiculing said person on twitter and then obediently appearing for a photo op when he stroked his ego. If anything is accomplished it will be because china put the screws to them.
- toomuchtodo 7y agoAubrey de Grey. The future will look back at today like we were savages for not innovating faster to cure aging. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aubrey_de_Grey https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aubrey_de_Grey
- paulcole 7y agoWith all we know about climate change, how can anyone advocate for keeping more people around longer? Seems like a real nightmare waiting to happen.
- toomuchtodo 7y agoBirth rate has fallen off a cliff. Nothing wrong with less people having kids also living longer if we can drive down our per capita environmental impact. Consider the value lost to humanity each time someone with decades of knowledge, wisdom, and experience passes. Offer me immortality and I shall go explore the stars. https://ourworldindata.org/fertility-rate https://ourworldindata.org/fertility-rate
- paulcole 7y ago> if we can drive down our per capita environmental impact. Oh is that all? Like my Gammy said, “If ifs and buts were candy and nuts, we’d all have a merry Christmas.” And if you gave my Gammy immortality, she would’ve just smoked more cigs and played more nickel slots.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- Retric 7y agoBeware people telling you things you want to hear. Aubrey de Grey is most likely going to be remembered like the guy saying machine vision is a weekend project before any serious research took place.
- toomuchtodo 7y ago
- Reedx 7y agoThat's interesting to think about. Almost by definition people won't agree which of those figures could become legends of the future.
- splintermax 7y agoI think Obama will most likely be on a note at some point
- tim333 7y agoHe's not very persecuted though.
- tempguy9999 7y agoTrump is. He's having a very hard time these days, poor guy.
- michaelmrose 7y agoIs this an attempt to increase the value of money by inspiring people to burn a lot of it?
- kinkrtyavimoodh 7y agoIt's an attempt to increase the value of the comment by inspiring people to upvote it by playing to the gallery.
- tempguy9999 7y agoOk, it was just a stupid post. I apologise. Shouldn't have done it.
- TuringNYC 7y agoA large number of Americans sadly even refuse to believe he is American.
- fortran77 7y agoHe was a very popular President who was re-elected. I don't think "a large number" is accurate. Maybe a small fringe.
- tim333 7y agoSatoshi Nakamoto? I think Turing was recognised as a great mathematician in his day but still persecuted.
- michaelmrose 7y agoBitcoin has mainly thus far mostly allowed for some geeks to get rich and some criminals to move around money. It's actual impact on society is best described as it wasted a bunch of electricity.
- beatgammit 7y agoMaybe, but crypto currency in some form could see widespread use at some point. Perhaps it won't be Bitcoin, but the underlying technology. Turing's machines weren't directly used, but the principles he came up with impact us today.
- boring_twenties 7y agoI'm quite sure that his Enigma-like machines were used heavily and most enthusiastically. edit: Specifically, this machine: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombe https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombe
- michaelmrose 7y agoThe enigma machines were typewriter like devices of nazi manufacture designed to allow users to type clear text and produce cypher text that could be typed into devices that shared a secret to produce the original clear text. Alan Turing is known for - Being a primary figure in the effort to break the enigma machine code so that messages could be decoded without stealing the secret keys used. This was tactically valuable. - Creating one of 2 mathematically equivalent logical models of computation eventually shown to be equivalent. He is thus of pivotal importance in the development of modern computers, the defeat of the nazis, and codebreaking. If you haven't heard of any of this it behooves you to read up a bit.
- menzoic 7y agoWe won't be using bank notes in 50yrs. Should be all digital.
- tim333 7y agoI remember similar sentiments about am radio, paper books, vinyl records and the like but things tend to stick around.
- sneak 7y agoMost consumers don’t use any of those things any longer.
- Anechoic 7y agoMost consumers don’t use any of those things any longer. Vinyl records, yes (mostly). I'm pretty sure the other two things are still in pretty wide use. [0] https://money.cnn.com/2017/04/27/media/ebooks-sales-real-books/index.html https://money.cnn.com/2017/04/27/media/ebooks-sales-real-boo... [1] http://www.insideradio.com/who-s-listening-am-radio-by-the-numbers/article_a65caa4a-54b6-11e7-b58d-df9c58fd262d.html http://www.insideradio.com/who-s-listening-am-radio-by-the-n...
- sneak 7y agoSomething can be in widespread use and not hit the 51% threshold required by “most consumers”.
- spenczar5 7y agoClaim 1: there will be no paper money at all. Counter: obsolete things last longer than you think. Riposte: obsolete things are not used by most people. Counter-riposte: still used by many people. Counter-counter-riposte: technically, many != most. Somewhere, I think the original point was lost. This has been HN comment theater, the greatest arena of technical-yet-irrelevant correctness you can find.
- PorterDuff 7y ago'Being persecuted' strikes me as a crummy reason to put someone on currency, it's more a sign of the times than a sign of gravitas.
- DoreenMichele 7y agoTuring was accomplished enough that I think he deserves the recognition even had he not ended up unjustly persecuted for his sexual orientation. I wish there was more focus in this discussion on Turing's incredible accomplishments and less on the lurid details surrounding his death. I'm fine with taking a stand to promote LGBTQ rights and left another comment here doing so, but I think it robs Turing of some of the respect he is due to frame the discussion here with an excess emphasis on his persecution.
- kitd 7y agoStrictly speaking, he didn't say it was. "Not recognized by society" in the present age is the thing these future awards atone for.
- leggomylibro 7y agoTuring was persecuted, but he was also instrumental to the Allies' victory in WWII. Without Bletchley Park and the massive advances in electromechanical computing that Turing helped to spearhead, the world would probably look very different today. It seems more like an acknowledgement that his past persecution shouldn't have any bearing on our perception of his myriad accomplishments. FTA: >Alan Turing provided the theoretical underpinnings for the modern computer. While best known for his work devising code-breaking machines during WWII, Turing played a pivotal role in the development of early computers first at the National Physical Laboratory and later at the University of Manchester. He set the foundations for work on artificial intelligence by considering the question of whether machines could think. I mean, we sometimes call general-purpose computers "Turing Machines", and we use "Turing Tests" to determine if an AI can demonstrate enough intelligence to pass as human. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turing_machine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turing_machine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turing_test https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turing_test