4 ms·

To lift its prestige, it would be nice to have the Queen of the UK and the Commonwealth to hand out the award too. That'd be a one-up on the Nobel prize, which

To lift its prestige, it would be nice to have the Queen of the UK and the Commonwealth to hand out the award too. That'd be a one-up on the Nobel prize, which is handed out by the King of Sweden. Fittingly, Alan Turing was British (just as Alfred Nobel was Swedish). It would also serve as a vindication of Turing's honor.

audeyisaacs 12y ago
I don't think that would be appropriate for symbolic reasons related to his cause of death. In my opinion, the award carrying Turing's name gives it a level of prestige greater than what royalty could provide.
hrasyid 12y ago
Why would the British royalty be a 'one up' compared to the Swedish one? ;)
- taejo 12y ago
  Elizabeth II is the queen of 16 countries. Carl XVI Gustav is king of one.
  - xorcist 12y ago
    He is king of the one which gives out the Nobel Prize though. It's kind of relevant, isn't it?
nl 12y ago
The Nobel prize is a Swedish (and Norwegian[1] award) so that makes sense. The Turing award is organized by the ACM, an US-based non-profit. It has nothing to do with the UK, apart from being named by someone who was a hero for that country and then was persecuted until he committed suicide. He was only pardoned in 2013. I think your idea is well intentioned but I'm not convinced it is appropriate. [1] The Nobel Peace Prize of awarded by a Norwegian committee: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobel_Peace_Prize http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobel_Peace_Prize
balladeer 12y ago
It's depressing and disgusting to see people still consider royalty and aristocracy as "one up". So much for freedom, liberal thinking and equality. For sanity's sake, at least give a thought about all the colonial history and the fact that Alan Turing was convicted for homosexual activity[0] and branded a security risk by the same "crown" and then issued a farcical royal pardon[1] in 2012. [0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Turing#Conviction_for_indecency http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Turing#Conviction_for_inde... [1] https://www.gov.uk/government/news/royal-pardon-for-ww2-code-breaker-dr-alan-turing https://www.gov.uk/government/news/royal-pardon-for-ww2-code... --> "Dr Alan Turing has been given a posthumous pardon under the Royal Prerogative of Mercy by the Queen"
k-mcgrady 12y ago
Why should a monarch have anything to do with it? It would be good to see it be given out by someone who previously won the award, someone who has actually achieved something.
nopinsight 12y ago
To be clear after having read several replies, I do not personally consider awards given by the aristocracy to be more prestigious. However, a lot of 'regular' people do. The proposal above simply aims to leverage the brand recognition of the British Crown and its still considerable prestige among millions of people to bolster the award's position, since we're talking about competing with the Nobel. (If the Turing Award were in fact the Nobel Prize's equal, there would not be this many 'Computer Science's Nobel prize' used in the popular press.) Current computer scientists of course do not really need this kind of endorsements, but if the aim is to attract more young bright minds to the field, it may help. I am aware of the cause of Dr.Turing's death. It was not instigated by the British Crown, but by the government, which was prejudiced by the law of its time. The fact that there was effort to obtain the royal 'pardon' for him suggests that, at least in Britain, the monarch's prestige meant something. In time, the award may well become prestigious enough that this is not useful anymore. Then, we could just ignore the tradition or even change the entity handing it out, perhaps to be an AI robot which passes the Turing test for the first time in history.

audeyisaacs 12y ago

I don't think that would be appropriate for symbolic reasons related to his cause of death. In my opinion, the award carrying Turing's name gives it a level of prestige greater than what royalty could provide.

hrasyid 12y ago

Why would the British royalty be a 'one up' compared to the Swedish one? ;)

taejo 12y ago
Elizabeth II is the queen of 16 countries. Carl XVI Gustav is king of one.
- xorcist 12y ago
  He is king of the one which gives out the Nobel Prize though. It's kind of relevant, isn't it?

nl 12y ago

The Nobel prize is a Swedish (and Norwegian[1] award) so that makes sense. The Turing award is organized by the ACM, an US-based non-profit. It has nothing to do with the UK, apart from being named by someone who was a hero for that country and then was persecuted until he committed suicide. He was only pardoned in 2013. I think your idea is well intentioned but I'm not convinced it is appropriate. [1] The Nobel Peace Prize of awarded by a Norwegian committee: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobel_Peace_Prize http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobel_Peace_Prize

balladeer 12y ago

It's depressing and disgusting to see people still consider royalty and aristocracy as "one up". So much for freedom, liberal thinking and equality. For sanity's sake, at least give a thought about all the colonial history and the fact that Alan Turing was convicted for homosexual activity[0] and branded a security risk by the same "crown" and then issued a farcical royal pardon[1] in 2012. [0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Turing#Conviction_for_indecency http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Turing#Conviction_for_inde... [1] https://www.gov.uk/government/news/royal-pardon-for-ww2-code-breaker-dr-alan-turing https://www.gov.uk/government/news/royal-pardon-for-ww2-code... --> "Dr Alan Turing has been given a posthumous pardon under the Royal Prerogative of Mercy by the Queen"

k-mcgrady 12y ago

Why should a monarch have anything to do with it? It would be good to see it be given out by someone who previously won the award, someone who has actually achieved something.

nopinsight 12y ago

To be clear after having read several replies, I do not personally consider awards given by the aristocracy to be more prestigious. However, a lot of 'regular' people do. The proposal above simply aims to leverage the brand recognition of the British Crown and its still considerable prestige among millions of people to bolster the award's position, since we're talking about competing with the Nobel. (If the Turing Award were in fact the Nobel Prize's equal, there would not be this many 'Computer Science's Nobel prize' used in the popular press.) Current computer scientists of course do not really need this kind of endorsements, but if the aim is to attract more young bright minds to the field, it may help. I am aware of the cause of Dr.Turing's death. It was not instigated by the British Crown, but by the government, which was prejudiced by the law of its time. The fact that there was effort to obtain the royal 'pardon' for him suggests that, at least in Britain, the monarch's prestige meant something. In time, the award may well become prestigious enough that this is not useful anymore. Then, we could just ignore the tradition or even change the entity handing it out, perhaps to be an AI robot which passes the Turing test for the first time in history.