5 ms·

If they won't buy Apple products because the CEO is gay, they probably shouldn't buy any computers at all, seeing as the entire field is built on the work of a

by efaref 12y ago

If they won't buy Apple products because the CEO is gay, they probably shouldn't buy any computers at all, seeing as the entire field is built on the work of a gay man.

_pmf_ 12y ago
Konrad Zuse was not gay.
- sumedh 12y ago
  I think he is talking about Alan Turing.
  - eevilspock 12y ago
    On one hand, we have a man who worked with the Nazis, and on the other, we have a man persecuted and chemically castrated by the British government for his sexual orientation, who many believe committed suicide as a result.
- aikah 12y ago
  hmm ,i guess he is talking about Alan Turing who was literaly sentenced to a horrible treatment for being gay. That's one of the greatest shame of UK,it symbolizes bigotery in its purest form.
  - oneeyedpigeon 12y ago
    Compared to which country that has never persecuted anyone for being gay?
    - aikah 12y ago
      This isnt a bigotery contest hey? I was talking from the point of view of someone who has the greatest respect for what Turing has done.I mean that's a shame that everything he has done for his country mattered very little when he was judged for being gay.
      - omonra 12y ago
        Bigotry is a wrong word to use (afaik) in a historical context. It simply means 'what we consider unacceptable by today's social norms'. It was absolutely stupid and unjust (since most upper classes were involved in buggery in school anyways) - but calling it bigoted is like saying 'it was so yellow of them to do'.
      - oneeyedpigeon 12y ago
        OK, maybe I mis-read your original comment. It came across as being very anti-UK: "That's one of the greatest shame of UK,it symbolizes bigotery in its purest form." but I accept I might have read stronger sentiment into that than was intended.
  - oracuk 12y ago
    It was one of our (many) great failings and as a nation we have accepted that: Prime Ministers Apology: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/sep/11/pm-apology-to-alan-turing http://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/sep/11/pm-apology-to-a... Royal Pardon: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/world-war-two/10536246/Alan-Turing-granted-Royal-pardon-by-the-Queen.html http://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/world-war-two/10536246/Al...
    - thathonkey 12y ago
      Well, at least there's that.
    - natch 12y ago
      Is it possible to knight someone posthumously? Has this happened?
      - crazypyro 12y ago
        No. No. In fact, in past times ( of kings and queens), one man was killed in a battle and his brother was given a much higher title because you cannot give the honorable title to a deceased individual.
        codeoclock 12y ago
        Not only can you not knight deceased people, but when knights die they lose their title. #QuiteInteresting. #whenwillhnsupporthashtags.
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
mlrtime 12y ago
If there is a standard distribution of gay men and women in the population, wouldn't that be true of any product? Sure, it could be higher in tech fields however there is a high probability of a gay man or woman building most the products we use.
- amelius 12y ago
  If you want to take the statistical approach, then you could also say that there exists a nonzero probability that it is not the case :)
brown9-2 12y ago
You shouldn't assume that bigots are rational.
egil 12y ago
To be honest, I for one know very little about the important persons in <enter orthogonal branch of science here>, gay or not. We might all know about the terrible fate of Alan Turing, but I don't expect non-cs people to know. (Thanks to gpvos for the correction of faith->fate. )
- gpvos 12y ago
  *fate (at least I hope you mean that)
  - sspiff 12y ago
    Oh no, he surely meant the terrible atheist beliefs Turing upheld during the later half of his life!
  - dghf 12y ago
    Maybe he meant the bad faith shown towards Turing by the British Establishment.
  - egil 12y ago
    Of course. Terrible mistake!
computerjunkie 12y ago
>>> seeing as the entire field is built on the work of a gay man. That's a rather inaccurate, cringe worthy and generic statement. If your saying only one person contributed to the field of computers in 2014, that's sad. We tend to glorify individuals in the eyes of media and forget [1]others who contributed to where we are today in technology. [1] http://www.computerhope.com/people/ http://www.computerhope.com/people/ - list of people who have contributed to computers. Edit: Thanks to oneplusone, I realised that he was speaking about Alan Turing. But why base a field on only one person regardless of sexuality. Why is sexuality the issue in the first place?
- oneplusone 12y ago
  He is referring to Alan Turing I believe.
  - computerjunkie 12y ago
    Thank you for the clarification.
- j2kun 12y ago
  But why base a field on only one person> Because Alan Turing is the father of computer science. Basically everything that came after depended crucially on his work.
  - computerjunkie 12y ago
    George Boole, Charles Babbage, John von Neumann, Grace Hopper - To name a few great contributors. Yes Alan Turing is considered the father of computer science but with out the knowledge of others before him (and even during his time) we could be living in a different world right now. Even the late, great Isaac Newton said - [1]"If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standing_on_the_shoulders_of_giants https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standing_on_the_shoulders_of_g...
    - 12y ago
goatforce5 12y ago
I saw a bunch of these Android pride shirts around Toronto Pride a few months back: https://www.googlestore.com/Google+Redesign/Brands/Android/Android+Pride+T-Shirt+-+Black.axd https://www.googlestore.com/Google+Redesign/Brands/Android/A... Quick, homophobes! Burn your Android phones!
- scragg 12y ago
  I also saw their new "And You" ad on broadcast TV which features a gay couple getting married. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRmgMe2STL0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRmgMe2STL0
cookiecaper 12y ago
Why should the work product of an individual be restricted only to people who agree with his choices? If someone doesn't buy Apple products because the CEO is gay, they're saying they don't want to send money to people promoting a homosexual lifestyle, not that they can't respect his work and not that they don't appreciate it. Do you agree with all of the life choices made by every innovator throughout the centuries, many of whom were very religious and almost assuredly would've been anti-gay had such a movement existed in their time? It may make sense to deprive these people of money now if you disagree with them, but it doesn't make sense to discharge all the output of their life's work once there's no more threat of them actually receiving direct monetary aid from your purchases, and it doesn't make sense to denigrate the product on its own basis, independent from the behavior or ideals of the original creator. We should recognize good wherever we can find it.

by efaref 12y ago

If they won't buy Apple products because the CEO is gay, they probably shouldn't buy any computers at all, seeing as the entire field is built on the work of a gay man.

_pmf_ 12y ago

Konrad Zuse was not gay.

sumedh 12y ago
I think he is talking about Alan Turing.
- eevilspock 12y ago
  On one hand, we have a man who worked with the Nazis, and on the other, we have a man persecuted and chemically castrated by the British government for his sexual orientation, who many believe committed suicide as a result.
aikah 12y ago
hmm ,i guess he is talking about Alan Turing who was literaly sentenced to a horrible treatment for being gay. That's one of the greatest shame of UK,it symbolizes bigotery in its purest form.
- oneeyedpigeon 12y ago
  Compared to which country that has never persecuted anyone for being gay?
  - aikah 12y ago
    This isnt a bigotery contest hey? I was talking from the point of view of someone who has the greatest respect for what Turing has done.I mean that's a shame that everything he has done for his country mattered very little when he was judged for being gay.
    - omonra 12y ago
      Bigotry is a wrong word to use (afaik) in a historical context. It simply means 'what we consider unacceptable by today's social norms'. It was absolutely stupid and unjust (since most upper classes were involved in buggery in school anyways) - but calling it bigoted is like saying 'it was so yellow of them to do'.
    - oneeyedpigeon 12y ago
      OK, maybe I mis-read your original comment. It came across as being very anti-UK: "That's one of the greatest shame of UK,it symbolizes bigotery in its purest form." but I accept I might have read stronger sentiment into that than was intended.
- oracuk 12y ago
  It was one of our (many) great failings and as a nation we have accepted that: Prime Ministers Apology: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/sep/11/pm-apology-to-alan-turing http://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/sep/11/pm-apology-to-a... Royal Pardon: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/world-war-two/10536246/Alan-Turing-granted-Royal-pardon-by-the-Queen.html http://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/world-war-two/10536246/Al...
  - thathonkey 12y ago
    Well, at least there's that.
  - natch 12y ago
    Is it possible to knight someone posthumously? Has this happened?
    - crazypyro 12y ago
      No. No. In fact, in past times ( of kings and queens), one man was killed in a battle and his brother was given a much higher title because you cannot give the honorable title to a deceased individual.
      - codeoclock 12y ago
        Not only can you not knight deceased people, but when knights die they lose their title. #QuiteInteresting. #whenwillhnsupporthashtags.
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]

mlrtime 12y ago

If there is a standard distribution of gay men and women in the population, wouldn't that be true of any product? Sure, it could be higher in tech fields however there is a high probability of a gay man or woman building most the products we use.

amelius 12y ago
If you want to take the statistical approach, then you could also say that there exists a nonzero probability that it is not the case :)

brown9-2 12y ago

You shouldn't assume that bigots are rational.

egil 12y ago

To be honest, I for one know very little about the important persons in <enter orthogonal branch of science here>, gay or not. We might all know about the terrible fate of Alan Turing, but I don't expect non-cs people to know. (Thanks to gpvos for the correction of faith->fate. )

gpvos 12y ago
*fate (at least I hope you mean that)
- sspiff 12y ago
  Oh no, he surely meant the terrible atheist beliefs Turing upheld during the later half of his life!
- dghf 12y ago
  Maybe he meant the bad faith shown towards Turing by the British Establishment.
- egil 12y ago
  Of course. Terrible mistake!

computerjunkie 12y ago

>>> seeing as the entire field is built on the work of a gay man. That's a rather inaccurate, cringe worthy and generic statement. If your saying only one person contributed to the field of computers in 2014, that's sad. We tend to glorify individuals in the eyes of media and forget [1]others who contributed to where we are today in technology. [1] http://www.computerhope.com/people/ http://www.computerhope.com/people/ - list of people who have contributed to computers. Edit: Thanks to oneplusone, I realised that he was speaking about Alan Turing. But why base a field on only one person regardless of sexuality. Why is sexuality the issue in the first place?

oneplusone 12y ago
He is referring to Alan Turing I believe.
- computerjunkie 12y ago
  Thank you for the clarification.
j2kun 12y ago
But why base a field on only one person> Because Alan Turing is the father of computer science. Basically everything that came after depended crucially on his work.
- computerjunkie 12y ago
  George Boole, Charles Babbage, John von Neumann, Grace Hopper - To name a few great contributors. Yes Alan Turing is considered the father of computer science but with out the knowledge of others before him (and even during his time) we could be living in a different world right now. Even the late, great Isaac Newton said - [1]"If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standing_on_the_shoulders_of_giants https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standing_on_the_shoulders_of_g...
  - 12y ago

goatforce5 12y ago

I saw a bunch of these Android pride shirts around Toronto Pride a few months back: https://www.googlestore.com/Google+Redesign/Brands/Android/Android+Pride+T-Shirt+-+Black.axd https://www.googlestore.com/Google+Redesign/Brands/Android/A... Quick, homophobes! Burn your Android phones!

scragg 12y ago
I also saw their new "And You" ad on broadcast TV which features a gay couple getting married. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRmgMe2STL0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRmgMe2STL0

cookiecaper 12y ago

Why should the work product of an individual be restricted only to people who agree with his choices? If someone doesn't buy Apple products because the CEO is gay, they're saying they don't want to send money to people promoting a homosexual lifestyle, not that they can't respect his work and not that they don't appreciate it. Do you agree with all of the life choices made by every innovator throughout the centuries, many of whom were very religious and almost assuredly would've been anti-gay had such a movement existed in their time? It may make sense to deprive these people of money now if you disagree with them, but it doesn't make sense to discharge all the output of their life's work once there's no more threat of them actually receiving direct monetary aid from your purchases, and it doesn't make sense to denigrate the product on its own basis, independent from the behavior or ideals of the original creator. We should recognize good wherever we can find it.