Would Turing care about winning the Turing Award?
Recently, there was an article in CACM titled Would Turing have won the Turing Award? However, my immediate thought when I heard about the article was
Would Turing care about winning the Turing award?
Honestly, I believe he would care about neither the award nor winning it.
My reason is that almost always mavericks don’t care about external validations; more so, validations based on committees and prevalent views. If given an award, they may humbly accept it or politely reject it (to make a point). But, they wouldn’t bother about the award.
I believe mavericks are moved by use and impact of their contributions. I believe they are more interested in feedback from their peers who they deeply respect and folks who offer honest and genuine opinion.
