Stephen Hawking pushes for pardon for Alan Turing
Linked by Thom Holwerda on Sat 15th Dec 2012 19:11 UTC
In the News "Peers and scientists including Professor Stephen Hawking are once again pushing for an official pardon for codebreaker Alan Turing. Turing's death from cyanide poisoning in 1954 was ruled a suicide, coming after his conviction for gross indecency at a time when homosexuality was illegal." The fact that he still hasn't been pardoned is an utter disgrace.
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RE[5]: The Rosa Parks Principle
by Soulbender on Sun 16th Dec 2012 08:52 UTC in reply to "RE[4]: The Rosa Parks Principle"
Soulbender
Member since:
2005-08-18

But we are not talking about what other people may, or may not, be doing or hoping. We're talking about what Hawking et al are actually saying and what message it is sending to the public and the government.

Reply Parent Score: 2

kwan_e Member since:
2007-02-18

But we are not talking about what other people may, or may not, be doing or hoping. We're talking about what Hawking et al are actually saying and what message it is sending to the public and the government.


Then you simply were making an ad hominem argument: Hawking says X, his motives deny X.

As I also pointed out, what Hawking is saying does not mean he also supports the opposite of what he is not saying.

Or do you really want to argue that the statement "We should pardon Alan Turing" is logically EQUIVALENT to the statement "We should not pardon anyone else". This is what you have in fact argued and I wonder if you are recanting or not.

Reply Parent Score: 3

rr7.num7 Member since:
2010-04-30

But we are not talking about what other people may, or may not, be doing or hoping. We're talking about what Hawking et al are actually saying and what message it is sending to the public and the government.

Oh, really? I thought you were talking about what you think he meant. Is there an interview I'm not aware of? Because all I know is that he co-signed a letter. Nothing less, nothing more. And if I was in his place I would have signed the letter too. If someone asked me: "Why did you sign it? What about the rest?", I would probably say: "It's not that I don't care, it's just that... I was asked to sign a letter about Alan Turing (duh!). Write those other letters and I'll sign them too". And, almost without a doubt, I would never hear from them again. They'd just keep talking trash of me on the internet, because that's so much easier.

Edited 2012-12-17 06:08 UTC

Reply Parent Score: 2