This week the British Government once again refused to pardon Alan Turing. One of the greatest mathematicians of the 20th century, Turing laid the foundations for computer science and played a key role in breaking the Nazi Enigma code during World War II. In 1952 he was convicted of homosexuality. He killed himself two years later, after being chemically castrated by the government.

On Monday, Justice Minister Tom McNally told the House of Lords that the government of Prime Minister David Cameron stood by the decision of earlier governments to deny a pardon, noting that the previous prime minister, Gordon Brown, had already issued an “unequivocal posthumous apology” to Turing. McNally was quoted  in the Guardian:

A posthumous pardon was not considered appropriate as Alan Turing was properly convicted of what at the time was a criminal offense. He would have known that his offense was against the law and that he would be prosecuted. It is tragic that Alan Turing was convicted of an offense which now seems both cruel and absurd–particularly poignant given his outstanding contribution to the war effort. However, the law at the time required a prosecution and, as such, long-standing policy has been to accept that such convictions took place and, rather than trying to alter the historical context and to put right what cannot be put right, ensure instead that we never again return to those times.

The decision came as a disappointment to thousands of people around the world who had petitioned for a formal pardon during the centenary year of Turing’s birth. The Guardian also quoted an email sent by American mathematician Dennis Hejhal to a British colleague:

i see that the House of Lords rejected the pardon Feb 6 on what are formal grounds.

if law is X on date D, and you knowingly break law X on date D, then you cannot be pardoned (no matter how wrong or flawed law X is).

the real reason is OBVIOUS. they do not want thousands of old men saying pardon us too.

Efforts to obtain a pardon for Turing are continuing. British citizens and UK residents can still sign the petition.

To learn more about Turing’s life, you can watch the 1996 BBC film Breaking the Code (above, in its entirety), featuring Derek Jacobi as Turing and Nobel Prize-winning playwright Harold Pinter as the mysterious “Man from the Ministry.” Directed by Herbert Wise, the film is based on a 1986 play by Hugh Whitemore, which in turn was based on Andrew Hodge’s 1983 book Alan Turing: The Enigma.

Breaking the Code moves back and forth between two time frames and two very different codes: one military, the other social. The film runs 91 minutes, and has been added to our collection of Free Movies Online.

Still No Pardon for Alan Turing; Watch the Film Breaking the Code is a post from: Open Culture

What to do about the sanctioned distortion of our political system? It’s hard to be optimistic when fixing the problem would realistically require a constitutional amendment. But that’s what Lawrence Lessig (Harvard law professor and founder of Creative Commons) is trying to do. Appearing at Google (see below), Lessig describes how special interests corrupt our political system, and what we can do to stop it. But even Lessig will admit that it’s an uphill battle.

That leaves us with the next best solution: turn a joke of an election system into a good joke. Enter Stephen Colbert. The comedian has created his own Super PAC (run by Jon Stewart) that comes complete with its own TV ads. The parody above — an attack ad on attack ads — makes its point pretty effectively. You can watch eight more Colbert PAC commercials here, and make a donation to his PAC here. And, if you’re feeling generous, you can show your support for Open Culture here.

Breaking News: Stephen Colbert ends quasi-presidential campaign

Nine PAC Ads from Stephen Colbert Spoof U.S. Election System is a post from: Open Culture

The search for survivors still goes on near the Tuscan island of Giglio, where the Costa Concordia hit rocks and listed helplessly to the side. The helplessness of the cruise ship has been captured in a remarkable image taken by Digital Globe from outer space. Click here (or above) to see the image in a rather stunning, enlarged format.

via Universe Today

The Costa Concordia Shipwreck Viewed from Outer Space is a post from: Open Culture

Some of the big websites are going black today to protest SOPA, the Stop Online Piracy Act, that has been winding its way through Congress. We’re going to handle things in our own way — by illuminating the matter with a little intelligent media.

Backed by the Motion Picture Association of America, SOPA is designed to debilitate and effectively shut down foreign-based websites that sell pirated movies, music and other goods. That all sounds fine on the face of things. But the legislation, if enacted, would carry with it a series of unexpected consequences that could change the internet as we know it. Among other things, the law could be used to shut down American sites that unwittingly host or link to illegal content — and without giving the sites due process, a real day in court. Big sites like YouTube and Twitter could fall under pressure, and so could countless small sites. Needless to say, that could have a serious chilling effect on the openness of the web and free speech.

To give a quick example: It could conceivably be the case that Stanford might object to my featuring their video above, file a claim, and shut the site down without giving me notice and an opportunity to remove the material (as exists under current law). It’s not likely. But it is possible, and the risk increases with every post we write. If this law passes, the amount of material we could truly safely cover would become ludicrously small, so much so that it wouldn’t be worth running the site and using the web as an educational medium.

The Obama administration has come out against SOPA and PIPA, sidelining the legislation for now. But you can almost guarantee that revisions will be made, and the bills will return soon. So, while other sites go black, we’re going to do what we do best. We’re featuring video of an event held in December by the Stanford Center for Internet and Society (SCIS). What’s Wrong with SOPA brings together a series of informed opponents to SOPA, including Stanford law professors and business leaders within Silicon Valley. (Find their bios below the jump.) Some of the most incisive comments are made by Fred von Lohmann, a Google lawyer, starting at the 19:10 mark.

Note: If you’re looking to understand the debate from the perspective of copyright holders, then we’d recommend you spend time watching, Follow the Money: Who Profits from Piracy?, a video that tracks the theft of one movie, making it a microcosm of a larger problem.

What is Wrong with SOPA? is a post from: Open Culture

On December 8th, six “all-star environmental professors” came together at an event called “Harvard Thinks Green” and presented short, TED-style talks about the environment and strategies for reversing climate change. The event started with James McCarthy (Professor of Biological Oceanography) asking the question (see above), “Is it too late to avoid serious impacts of climate change?” A good question to ask given that 2010 witnessed the biggest annual jump in global carbon emissions—5.9%. This set the stage for Richard Lazarus (Professor of Law) to discuss ways that our political system could become more responsive to the crisis. (Did you know that Barack Obama only mentioned climate change once in public last year? Just once?) And then Rebecca Henderson (Co-Director of the Business and Environment Initiative) tries to make the difficult case that money-making and saving the world can go hand-in-hand — that capitalism can become environmentally sustainable. You can watch the remaining talks online here, or on iTunes here.

Related Content:

Harvard Thinks Big 2010

Why is the U.S. F’ed Up? 8 Lectures from Occupy Harvard Teach-In Provide Answers

Harvard Presents Free Courses with the Open Learning Initiative

Harvard Thinks Green: Big Ideas from 6 All-Star Environment Profs is a post from: Open Culture

Last Wednesday, the Occupy movement gained a little more intellectual momentum when eight faculty members from Harvard, Boston College, and N.Y.U. gathered in Cambridge to present a daylong Teach-In. In one talk, Archon Fung (Ford Foundation Professor of Democracy and Citizenship and Co-Director of Transparency Policy Project at Harvard) took a vague thesis of the Occupy movement — “Shit is Fucked Up and Bullshit” — and gave it some academic depth in a data-filled talk called “Why Has Inequality Grown in America? And What Should We Do About It?” The other talks are available on YouTube (see links below) or via audio stream:

Heterodox Economics: Alternatives to Mankiw’s Ideology - Stephen Marglin, Walter Barker Professor of Economics, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Harvard University

Wall Streetʼs Role in the European Financial Crisis - Richard Parker, Lecturer in Public Policy and Senior Fellow at the Shorenstein Center, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University

The Occupy Movement and Student Debt Refusal - Andrew Ross, Professor of Social and Cultural Analysis, New York University

Economics for the 99% – Juliet Schor, Professor of Sociology, Boston College

Booms and Busts: The Legal Dynamics of Modern Money - Christine Desan, Professor of Law, Harvard Law School, Harvard University

Fear and Power - Brad Epps, Professor of Romance Languages & Literatures and Department Chair for Studies in Women, Gender, and Sexuality, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Harvard University

Vigilance, Inquiry, Alienation & Hope at Harvard and in the USA - John Womack, Robert Woods Bliss Professor of Latin American History and Economics, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Harvard University

Related Content:

Noam Chomsky at Occupy Boston

Harvard Thinks Big, a TED-Esque Event

Why is the U.S. F’ed Up? 8 Lectures from Occupy Harvard Teach-In Provide Answers is a post from: Open Culture

Last week, composer Philip Glass and rock legend Lou Reed embraced the Occupy Wall Street movement. Initial video & audio clips capturing their appearances were shoddy at best. Now Jean Thevenin (who joined the protest at Lincoln Center Plaza) has given us a better view, producing a short, elegant film simply called Visible Shape. The accompanying music is “Protest” from Satyagraha, written by Philip Glass and performed by New York City Opera Orchestra.

Philip Glass & Lou Reed at Occupy Lincoln Center: An Artful View is a post from: Open Culture

This fall, the world’s population reached seven billion. A sobering thought. How did we get to this point? Producer Adam Cole and photographer Maggie Starbard of National Public Radio have put the world’s accelerating population growth in perspective in a two-and-a-half minute video, above.

In those two and a half minutes, 638 babies will be born worldwide, according to statistics from the United States Census Bureau, and 265 people will die. That’s a net gain of 373 people, just while you watch the film. The biggest growth, according to NPR,  is happening in sub-Saharan Africa, where access to family planning is low and infant mortality rates are high.

It may seem counter-intuitive that population growth rates are high where infant survival rates are low, but as Swedish global health expert Hans Rosling put it during a recent TED talk, “Only by child survival can we control population growth.” Because population growth and infant mortality rates are both correlated to poverty rates, he argues, eliminating poverty is the key to achieving a sustainable world population. You can learn more in our November 1 feature,  “Hans Rosling Uses IKEA Props to Explain World of 7 Billion People.”

Crowded House: How the World’s Population Grew to 7 Billion People is a post from: Open Culture

In early October of 2009, Malcolm McLaren was nearing death but didn’t know it yet. He showed up at the 2009 Handheld Learning conference feeling fatigued, but managed to deliver a provocative and heartfelt speech titled, “Never Mind the Bullocks, Here’s the Txt Pistols,” in which he reflects on his life growing up in post-World War II England and expresses dismay over the rise of what he called “karaoke culture.”

“All popular culture today,” said McLaren, “goes to great lengths to promote the idea that it’s cool to be stupid.” He championed instead the “messy process of creativity” in which struggle, failure and the acquisition of skill and knowledge are valued above instant fame. You can watch the complete speech above. A few days after it was given, McLaren went into the hospital and learned that he had cancer. He died six months later, on April 8, 2010. The next day Handheld Learning founder Graham Brown-Martin  wrote:

The talk from Malcolm at the Handheld Learning Conference 2009 will, I believe, stand the test of time. The speech doesn’t elaborate about the period of the Sex Pistols, New York Dolls, Vivienne Westwood, his impact on design, fashion and music culture and many other important achievements of Malcolm’s life that will be reported in obituaries over the coming days. Instead and in keeping with the theme of the conference, Malcolm discusses in his inimitable style–his life, learning, authenticity vs karaoke culture and what we gain from the experience of failure. Ironically, failure was something Malcolm never achieved. The talk was anything but ordinary, it polarised our audience and instantly trended globally on Twitter but what else would you expect?

via TED/Best of the Web

Malcolm McLaren: The Quest for Authentic Creativity is a post from: Open Culture

Last night, two American icons lent support to the Occupy Wall Street movement, speaking at a protest held outside of Lincoln Center in New York City.  After a performance of Satyagraha at the Met, Philip Glass spoke to demonstrators. According to Alex Ross, the music critic for the New Yorker, Glass recited the closing lines of Satyagraha (see around 3:00 minute mark in the video above), which come from the Bhagavad Gita:

When righteousness withers away and evil rules the land, we come into being, age after age, and take visible shape, and move, a man among men, for the protection of good, thrusting back evil and setting virtue on her seat again.

He repeated the saying several times, and the “human microphone” amplified the message for him.

Lou Reed was also in attendance and helped someone crawl over a police barricade at one point, then said: “I was born in Brooklyn, and I’ve never been more ashamed than to see the barricades tonight. The police are our army. I want to be friends with them. And I wanna occupy Wall Street. I support it.” A not-so-clear audio clip appears below:

via Gothamist and The Rest is Noise

More Occupy Videos:

Noam Chomsky at Occupy Boston

Slavoj Zizek Takes the Stage at Occupy Wall Street

Joseph Stiglitz and Lawrence Lessig at Occupy Wall Street

David Crosby & Graham Nash at Occupy Wall Street; Echoes of Woodstock

Philip Glass, Lou Reed Speak At Occupy Lincoln Center is a post from: Open Culture