Alan Turing is the focus of this week's off-topic linkfest.
Earlier on MoreLiver’s Daily:
Weekender: Weekly Support (weekly reviews and previews, just updated!)
ALAN TURING 100 YEARS
What Happens When We Turn the World's Most
Famous Robot Test on Ourselves? – The
Atlantic
For years the Turing Test has been used to
compare humans with computers. Now sociologists are using it to compare humans
with each other.
Happy 100th Birthday, Alan Turing – brain
pickings
On the man who was caught between the past and
the future in clothes a size too small, and profoundly changed our lives
anyway.
A beautiful mind – Babbage
/ The Economist
Like artists, many scientists do not achieve
the fame they deserve until after they are dead. Alan Turing, the British
mathematician best-known for his codebreaking exploits at Bletchley Park during
the second world war, and for fathering the information age, is a perfect
example.
Alan Turing: why the tech world's hero should
be a household name
– BBC
To mark the occasion the BBC has commissioned a series of essays
to run across the week, starting with this overview of Turing's legacy by Vint
Cerf.
Yours in distress, Alan – Letters
of Note
MILITARY / POLITICS /
INTERNATIONAL
New NSA docs contradict 9/11 claims – Salon
“I don’t think the Bush administration would
want to see these released," an expert tells Salon
Measuring the Mafia-State Menace – Foreign
Affairs
The link between crime and the state is neither
as new nor as scary as Moisés Naím depicted it, argues Peter Andreas; after
all, criminals have been corrupting governments for centuries. Naím responds
that mafia states are unprecedented and worrisome.
With Vladimir Putin back in power in Russia, understanding him is
more important than ever. Two recent books attempt to unravel the mystery,
adding new insight into the Russian leader's life and rule. But by trying to
comprehend Putin through his personal history, they miss the true heart of the
story: the state he built.
PSYCHOLOGY
Speak first. Speak confidently. Speak often. – Bakadesuyo
How can you become the leader of a group even
when you don't know what you're talking about?
How Depressives Surf the Web – NYT
Tuck into our latest round-up of the best psych
and neuro links
Extras – The British
Psychological Society
Eye-catching studies that didn't make the final
cut
OTHER
Greek-German Tensions Over Finances Spill Into
Another Arena – NYT
“Without Angie, you wouldn’t be here,” bellowed
the German fans…“We’ll never pay you back,” countered the Greeks.
Political Scientists Are Lousy Forecasters – NYT
Why does the Higgs decay? – The
Guardian
Higgs bosons might be being produced at CERN right now, but we can't keep them.
Lily Asquith explains...
A Curated Linkfest For The Smartest People On
The Web! – Simoleon
Sense
My mother declared my bedroom a disaster area – Letters
of Note
In 1984, a seventh-grader named Andy Smith
wrote to then-President of the United States, Ronald Reagan, with a request
Blade Runner: Which predictions have come true? – BBC
It's been 30 years since the release of Blade
Runner and 10 years since Minority Report. Both are rich sources of predictions
about the future. But what has actually come to pass?
Dispatches From The World Series Of Poker – Dealbreaker