SUNY Geneseo Department of Computer Science

“Breaking the Code” Act 2

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Questions?

“Breaking the Code”

Immediate comments?

Watch Act 2

Discussion: Could Turing as portrayed in this play have had a different outcome?

• He couldn’t have hidden his homosexuality
  • Despite contrast, e.g., to Dilly Knox who never showed any public sign of his homosexuality
  • Consider argument with Knox re being honest about the way things are, if others don’t appreciate it they are “small-minded”
  • Despite Turing saying he should have married Pat, he probably wouldn’t really do it even if given the chance
• Small group discussion
  • Opinion 1: If Turing hadn’t been arrested, he probably would have gone on OK as a university researcher
  • Opinion 2: Even if Turing hadn’t been arrested in 1952, it would have happened sooner or later because he simply couldn’t keep who he was secret
  • Opinion 3: Regardless of arrests, this Turing shows signs of increasing dissatisfaction with his life, e.g., longing for life at Bletchley, and even before that the life he wanted with Christopher Morcom; he’s continually fascinated by the question of whether an intelligent mind can exist without a human body.

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Peer critique Enigma essay revisions

Bring 3 printed copies of draft to class