Intersections of Alan Turing and My Life

This afternoon I got to the world premiere of "The  Life and Death(s) of Alan Turning" via the Chicago Opera Theater. It was really good and I am glad I was able to go. (Thank You Chicago Opera Theater for having a limited number of $25 tickets because otherwise it would have been outside my budget) It was fun seeing his life as an opera (and I really liked the ending that felt like it let him metaphorically get a happily ever after with Christopher his first love.) 

It also made me think about how Alan Turing's life has intersected with my own. 

LGBTQA+ Intersections:

In all honesty I was first introduced to Alan Turing via Cumberbatch and "The Imitation Game." I was excited about the movie because Cumberbatch would be in it, I then discovered that the character he was playing (Alan Turing) was gay and it became what now I would call a special interest. I read several biography's about Alan Turing, forced my way through a few other book that said they were explaining the math behind what Turing did in simple terms (though I won't say I ever understood that math LOL), and spent months following the film, how many cities it had been released in, how much it had made, how it was ranking in terms of top grossing films of all time, etc.

There was something powerful about learning the story of one of us (Yes I am Ace not Gay but for me anyone under the LGBTQA+ is one of my people, one of us), and something heartbreaking about how he was persecuted despite helping break the enigma code and therefore helping win WW2. And something even more heart breaking in that the reason the legal system got involved was because he was robbed and instead of getting justice his reward was be robbed a second time (robbed of his personhood) this time by the legal system that was more concerned with what people were doing in their homes/personal lives then they were about justice which mirrors what is happening in many states right now when it comes to trans issues, women identified individuals, etc. (Sorry will get off soap box now)

Neurodivergence Intersections:

Alan Turing then popped up again when I was first exploring neurodivergence when the actor Wentworth Miller announced being autistic. Now Alan Turing has been adopted by the autistic community, but we will never know because our language and understandings of neurodivergence have changed, so of course he never got any formal diagnosis (and he would not have had the language to self diagnose), but Alan Turing falling somewhere under the neurodivergent umbrella feels like a good fit to me. 

I do have to note Alan Turing was one of the reasons I did not realize I was Autistic because I was like but I don't want to build computers from scratch (or be a consulting detective like Sherlock or be an internationally famous actor like Wentworth Miller) so therefore I must not be Autistic LOL but that is totally on me and not on Alan Turing LOL. But in many ways Alan Turing did the best when he was allowed to be himself, be some flavor of neurodivergent, follow his special interests, and be accepted for who he was.  

Where will we next intersect?

I do not know when Alan Turing and I will intersect next. Probably the next time someone creates an opera, musical, play about his life LOL. I do know I hope to channel Alan Turing's ability to always know who he was and always be who he was no matter what those around him said or thought. His ability to always be unmasked. his ability to see where he wanted to go in terms of computers and take the steps he needed to to get there. There are many "gigabytes" of wisdom we all can learn from Alan Turing. Wisdom that is needed now more than ever.