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November 5th (Guy Fawkes' Day) was my dad's birthday. He died in 1984, just shy of 56 (I think; he was a mathematician but numbers defeat me, especially remembering them). He had taken a class with Turing at Manchester (it was impossible to know what time he would turn up, and he was almost incomprehensible; they took to having someone photograph the blackboard afterwards so they could collectively puzzle over the chicken-scratchings). And he'd told me about the old computer there that filled a couple of rooms. And he was an avid science-fiction reader. He was also thrilled to be able to work for a few years in Washington, DC, and once saw Henry K dash out of a hotel. The way I once saw Leslie Crowther come out of his house on the way to work, but my dad didn't reflexively say "hello" to Henry K.
I often wonder what he would have made of the internet. I worked on my dissertation using first custom word-processing software developed by Cal-San Diego, and later the Displaywriter, but I only started using Applewrite at my first job, and didn't go online for another decade, but a Cornell friend's dad was going online at home through Syracuse. My dad may have been aware of it, may even have used it, but I don't think we ever talked about it. I wonder what he would have made of Wikipedia; he would probably have laughed in horror at my being a sysop there. (Which was pretty much my reaction.)
I wonder what he would have thought of the fashion in the US for cars that look like assault vehicles. While the new Volkswagens don't. I am rather glad he missed 9-11, and what the US has become. And the surveillance state in the UK; he was extremely private, but privacy was very important in England when I was growing up. Now every time a kid wanders away from home there are surveillance pictures from 20 cameras on each block. He would probably have been creeped out by Google Street View; but it's let me show my friends the houses I grew up in, and where we used to go on walkies with the dogs before the housemate's dog became too old for more than a short stroll out and back. Come to think of it, almost all my friends have been on-line people for some years now.
I often wonder what he would have made of the internet. I worked on my dissertation using first custom word-processing software developed by Cal-San Diego, and later the Displaywriter, but I only started using Applewrite at my first job, and didn't go online for another decade, but a Cornell friend's dad was going online at home through Syracuse. My dad may have been aware of it, may even have used it, but I don't think we ever talked about it. I wonder what he would have made of Wikipedia; he would probably have laughed in horror at my being a sysop there. (Which was pretty much my reaction.)
I wonder what he would have thought of the fashion in the US for cars that look like assault vehicles. While the new Volkswagens don't. I am rather glad he missed 9-11, and what the US has become. And the surveillance state in the UK; he was extremely private, but privacy was very important in England when I was growing up. Now every time a kid wanders away from home there are surveillance pictures from 20 cameras on each block. He would probably have been creeped out by Google Street View; but it's let me show my friends the houses I grew up in, and where we used to go on walkies with the dogs before the housemate's dog became too old for more than a short stroll out and back. Come to think of it, almost all my friends have been on-line people for some years now.