So, I didn't expect to even watch the movie The Imitation Game, let alone to find it as exciting as I did. I typically go for movies with a little more direct action, as opposed to the slightly more highbrow stuff that The Imitation Game would be considered one of. It's just been more comfortable, if I'm being honest.
But even so, it did interest me, even excite me, nonetheless, because it showed how one man could shape the lives of millions, at least potentially. I was even all set to write a thread on here about the movie, in fact. I've always wanted to be one of those people who makes a huge difference in the world, so this was right up my alley.
Unfortunately, I did some checking and it turns out that the movie embellished the history a bit (I'm sure some of you will say "go figure"). For instance, the movie suggests that Turing was the only one working with British codebreaking on a machine countering the German's Enigma,, and it turns out that he actually had assistance from Gordon Welchman in the design. However, this is not terribly damning for Turing, because, as someone who has collaborated with friends in the creation of nations and story arcs for a roleplaying game we both play(ed?),I know that the input of each individual in the collaboration can be highly relevant to what comes out. And yes, it's possible that another individual could have supplied Turing's "input"--but, even if Turing wasn't unique, he could easily have been rare, and that the likelihood of such input being at the right place at the right time might not have been a high one (Newton and Leibniz offer a great parallel--maybe Newton wasn't the only one who came up with calculus, although he might have been, but thee only other person that did , did so in a different country. and possibly a few years earlier or later.)
However, the relevance of all that pales in comparison to some information about a Polish "Bomba" that was invented years earlier. It was, in the minds of the British and Poles at least, rendered useless, sometime before Turing's Bombe, but it could very easily have inspired the Bombe's design, to an extent that maybe anyone could've come up with it. Might this, perhaps, dilute the individual importance of Turing's work?
Well,maybe. But then there's always Banburismus and, while this isn't necessarily Turing's unique relevance, the equally rare-mind derived Herivel Tip. Banburismus might not count, though, I'll admit, because of the finding of German "translations" helped things along, but the method of Banburismus does seem, from the article, vital to determining the structure of future encryptions. And of course, I've already addressed the "Someone else could've done it" argument in the last paragraph. This may be true, but they might not've done it in Britain during the time of the Norwegian Campaign or the Battle of Britain, which might've changed the outcomes of those battles, and therefore the war.
And of course, even without all this, we can look at Hitler's decisionmaking and analyze it's relevance. What if he'd stopped at France, etc.
So, with that, I leave it to you. What do you think about how individually important certain people were in WWII?
But even so, it did interest me, even excite me, nonetheless, because it showed how one man could shape the lives of millions, at least potentially. I was even all set to write a thread on here about the movie, in fact. I've always wanted to be one of those people who makes a huge difference in the world, so this was right up my alley.
Unfortunately, I did some checking and it turns out that the movie embellished the history a bit (I'm sure some of you will say "go figure"). For instance, the movie suggests that Turing was the only one working with British codebreaking on a machine countering the German's Enigma,, and it turns out that he actually had assistance from Gordon Welchman in the design. However, this is not terribly damning for Turing, because, as someone who has collaborated with friends in the creation of nations and story arcs for a roleplaying game we both play(ed?),I know that the input of each individual in the collaboration can be highly relevant to what comes out. And yes, it's possible that another individual could have supplied Turing's "input"--but, even if Turing wasn't unique, he could easily have been rare, and that the likelihood of such input being at the right place at the right time might not have been a high one (Newton and Leibniz offer a great parallel--maybe Newton wasn't the only one who came up with calculus, although he might have been, but thee only other person that did , did so in a different country. and possibly a few years earlier or later.)
However, the relevance of all that pales in comparison to some information about a Polish "Bomba" that was invented years earlier. It was, in the minds of the British and Poles at least, rendered useless, sometime before Turing's Bombe, but it could very easily have inspired the Bombe's design, to an extent that maybe anyone could've come up with it. Might this, perhaps, dilute the individual importance of Turing's work?
Well,maybe. But then there's always Banburismus and, while this isn't necessarily Turing's unique relevance, the equally rare-mind derived Herivel Tip. Banburismus might not count, though, I'll admit, because of the finding of German "translations" helped things along, but the method of Banburismus does seem, from the article, vital to determining the structure of future encryptions. And of course, I've already addressed the "Someone else could've done it" argument in the last paragraph. This may be true, but they might not've done it in Britain during the time of the Norwegian Campaign or the Battle of Britain, which might've changed the outcomes of those battles, and therefore the war.
And of course, even without all this, we can look at Hitler's decisionmaking and analyze it's relevance. What if he'd stopped at France, etc.
So, with that, I leave it to you. What do you think about how individually important certain people were in WWII?
via International Skeptics Forum http://ift.tt/1WOQD3z
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