The Imitation Game: The Difference Between Man and Machine Spoilers

In the final twenty minutes of "The Imitation Game," facing the detective in the interrogation room, Turing articulates the drama's central theme: What is the difference between man and machine? The fundamental distinction lies in humans having diverse thoughts, while machines do not. You love strawberries, I detest ice-skating, you enjoy reading, I am allergic to pollen... Turing's words highlight the two most significant themes of his life: his career and his sexual orientation.

Turing's life is renowned for creating the Turing machine, a precursor to the countless computers that would consume the lives of future computer scientists. When he utters "Digital Computer" in the film, many hearts resonate with the grandiose background music: Ah, an era has begun. However, in "The Imitation Game," the main plot revolves around his process of decrypting the German "Enigma" code during World War II, a heroic and anonymous contribution to the war effort. "Enigma" was a state-of-the-art encryption device invented by the Germans, creating almost infinite possibilities due to its intricate structure. If Turing and his colleagues used manual algorithms to solve one chance every ten minutes, it would take them 20 million years to exhaust all possibilities. The human approach was blocked, leading Turing to create something faster than human calculation—the electronic brain, the computer prototype. The computer at that time was vast and complex: countless copper wires and lettered wheels rotating on the screen at a speed far slower than today's computers. Nevertheless, this machine became the ancestor of all future computers, capable of deciphering the German code—something humans could not achieve, but machines could.

However, what is something machines cannot do? Choose. Machines do not make choices; they can only inform humans of their calculations. The choice is forever made by humans. After cracking the "Enigma," the Germans would know their code was broken once the decryption was used. Once the Germans abandoned the code, all their efforts would be in vain. Turing and his colleagues faced the world's most daunting choice: how to use their decryption to protect the British people as much as possible, end the war early, and simultaneously preventing the Germans from finding out? This was the world's most challenging problem: Is one person's life more important than five others? Or the lives of ten million? Who should be sacrificed, and who should be protected? The difficulty of this choice lies in the fact that no matter the decision, someone will be condemned. In the film, through Turing's voice, there is a sarcastic tone: "The world thinks this is a magnificent confrontation between different civilizations, but in our view, it's just a statistical probability calculated."

Perhaps for this reason, the British government, after the war, consigned all their data and achievements to the flames. They returned to their respective universities, disappearing from the public eye, and all records turned into blanks as they kept the matter secret for over fifty years. Post-war, Turing, due to his homosexuality, was convicted of "gross indecency." Faced with a choice between serving a two-year sentence or undergoing hormonal treatment, he chose the latter, leading to the destruction of his mental well-being. Before the age of 42, he decided to end his life, marking the curtain fall on one of the world's greatest minds. He could create the most intelligent machine globally, yet he could only make the most tragic choice for his own life. He named his Turing machine "Christopher," after his first love, a person who existed in history and led him into the world of codes but died young due to contaminated milk. In the film, his death is dramatic: a school campus filled with bullying, two youths relying on each other. When one courageously approaches the other with an "I love you" written in code, he hears tragic news. His death changed Turing's worldview, turning him into a thorough materialist and atheist.

Homosexuality, like the invention of the Turing machine, transcended the social norms of the time and wasn't accepted by the mainstream. The movie repeatedly emphasizes that only unpredictable individuals can do the most astonishing and unconventional things. Turing is such a figure, and which great historical figure guiding human progress wasn't? Even though such secrets were kept for decades, people eventually, and rightly, evaluate his contributions.

Benedict Cumberbatch portrays this neurotic, anguished, yet benevolent genius vividly. For example, his joke in the movie isn't inherently funny, but his expressions and demeanor make it irresistibly amusing, revealing Turing's less adept side.