I find it hard to believe this song isn't at least partly an allusion to Alan Turing who cracked German codes in WWII to end the war. He was later convicted by the British govt. for being a homosexual and then killed himself with a poisoned apple. (Sleeping Beauty was apparently his favorite fairy tale.)
My mind went to Turing at first too. It makes a lot of sense as a break up song, as well, but yeah, Turing's homosexuality fits perfectly in the second half of this song, especially as he was such a hero, and then they convicted and chemically castrated him. Relating the first part to him just being a code cracker, then his gears wearing down as he's trying to hide his homosexuality, and the "hows my living?" stanza being about him trying to covertly let out his secret, but it eventually "casting a pall" as people hear and reject him...
My mind went to Turing at first too. It makes a lot of sense as a break up song, as well, but yeah, Turing's homosexuality fits perfectly in the second half of this song, especially as he was such a hero, and then they convicted and chemically castrated him. Relating the first part to him just being a code cracker, then his gears wearing down as he's trying to hide his homosexuality, and the "hows my living?" stanza being about him trying to covertly let out his secret, but it eventually "casting a pall" as people hear and reject him totally.
That was also my interpretation. Back in the day, a "computer" was a person rather than a machine. Some have suggested that Turing's work connected with his struggles to come to terms with his sexuality, leading him to identify people with automatons. It's so hard to ever interpret every line of a song like this, and once I had that theory, more and more of it seemed to make sense.
That was also my interpretation. Back in the day, a "computer" was a person rather than a machine. Some have suggested that Turing's work connected with his struggles to come to terms with his sexuality, leading him to identify people with automatons. It's so hard to ever interpret every line of a song like this, and once I had that theory, more and more of it seemed to make sense.
I've been reading a lot of Neal Stephenson lately, and this song definitely reminded me of Turing and cryptanalysis too.
I just finished reading The Diamond Age, and there's one part where the protagonist has to figure out how to reprogram this huge castle that is a Turing machine via binary chains that program the robot ruler so she can escape. The chains run through the floor and walls of the castle. If it is a breakup song, I can understand the feeling of the same kind of prison that you can only escape through some heavy, intense thought; a...
I've been reading a lot of Neal Stephenson lately, and this song definitely reminded me of Turing and cryptanalysis too.
I just finished reading The Diamond Age, and there's one part where the protagonist has to figure out how to reprogram this huge castle that is a Turing machine via binary chains that program the robot ruler so she can escape. The chains run through the floor and walls of the castle. If it is a breakup song, I can understand the feeling of the same kind of prison that you can only escape through some heavy, intense thought; a type of puzzle so difficult that you're not sure if you'll ever be able to figure it out.
I find it hard to believe this song isn't at least partly an allusion to Alan Turing who cracked German codes in WWII to end the war. He was later convicted by the British govt. for being a homosexual and then killed himself with a poisoned apple. (Sleeping Beauty was apparently his favorite fairy tale.)
My mind went to Turing at first too. It makes a lot of sense as a break up song, as well, but yeah, Turing's homosexuality fits perfectly in the second half of this song, especially as he was such a hero, and then they convicted and chemically castrated him. Relating the first part to him just being a code cracker, then his gears wearing down as he's trying to hide his homosexuality, and the "hows my living?" stanza being about him trying to covertly let out his secret, but it eventually "casting a pall" as people hear and reject him...
My mind went to Turing at first too. It makes a lot of sense as a break up song, as well, but yeah, Turing's homosexuality fits perfectly in the second half of this song, especially as he was such a hero, and then they convicted and chemically castrated him. Relating the first part to him just being a code cracker, then his gears wearing down as he's trying to hide his homosexuality, and the "hows my living?" stanza being about him trying to covertly let out his secret, but it eventually "casting a pall" as people hear and reject him totally.
That was also my interpretation. Back in the day, a "computer" was a person rather than a machine. Some have suggested that Turing's work connected with his struggles to come to terms with his sexuality, leading him to identify people with automatons. It's so hard to ever interpret every line of a song like this, and once I had that theory, more and more of it seemed to make sense.
That was also my interpretation. Back in the day, a "computer" was a person rather than a machine. Some have suggested that Turing's work connected with his struggles to come to terms with his sexuality, leading him to identify people with automatons. It's so hard to ever interpret every line of a song like this, and once I had that theory, more and more of it seemed to make sense.
I've been reading a lot of Neal Stephenson lately, and this song definitely reminded me of Turing and cryptanalysis too. I just finished reading The Diamond Age, and there's one part where the protagonist has to figure out how to reprogram this huge castle that is a Turing machine via binary chains that program the robot ruler so she can escape. The chains run through the floor and walls of the castle. If it is a breakup song, I can understand the feeling of the same kind of prison that you can only escape through some heavy, intense thought; a...
I've been reading a lot of Neal Stephenson lately, and this song definitely reminded me of Turing and cryptanalysis too. I just finished reading The Diamond Age, and there's one part where the protagonist has to figure out how to reprogram this huge castle that is a Turing machine via binary chains that program the robot ruler so she can escape. The chains run through the floor and walls of the castle. If it is a breakup song, I can understand the feeling of the same kind of prison that you can only escape through some heavy, intense thought; a type of puzzle so difficult that you're not sure if you'll ever be able to figure it out.