[bodge5000]

The problem with technically correct allocation of of credit is that to be truly technically correct, it gets very messy very quickly, as all knowledge is built on other knowledge. The credit for founding computer science would be "[absolutely massive list of people] and finally of course, the one we call Ung, who discovered the wheel".

That might seem pedantic and it is, but you need to define exactly where the line is drawn and more so, give a good reason why. In fact its not even that simple, WE need to decide and agree on where the line is drawn and all of us agree why. Otherwise one mans pedantic is anothers important creditation.

Obviously that's not going to happen anytime soon, so for now, figureheads like Einstein and Turing do the job. And they do certainly deserve credit to some degree. That or we stop giving credit completely, which a). seems like a good way to destroy knowledge and b). isn't going to happen anytime soon.

Edit: As another commenter pointed out, if Einstein or the like were born somewhere else and lived around a different group of people, theres a chance he wouldn't become a figurehead, or he would make less or more or different discoveries. Therefore, theres a third option for creditation, in which everyone who has ever lived up until those discoveries has equal credit. If I were 60 or so years older, I'd be as much to credit for the turing machine as Turing himself. So would you. Of course, this is pretty much as good as no credit to anyone at all, but fixing it again requires a joint agreement on where the line is drawn

[6gvONxR4sf7o]

Those aren’t the only options. We can give credit without creating mythic heros. Giving technically correct precise allocation of credit is messy, you’re right. But so is defining what ‘tall’ means, so the precision is beside the point. You don’t need to define exactly where the line is drawn.

It reminds me of voting systems, but maybe that’s just because of the election yesterday. If you want to give singular nontransferrable credit, the things you say are important because giving someone credit takes it away from someone else. Division and fighting become the right answers. But if you spread the credit around, saying Leibniz and Newton both get calculus credit (and probably not just those two!), then discussions of which one should get the title of The One And Only Calculus Hero just seems absurd.

[bodge5000]

Defining tall doesn't matter so much, a) because we have a precise measure of height and b) because we all know and fully understand that the definition of tall is completely subjective. You might say the same thing about credit, but then you also need to accept that for a lot of people will gravitate towards these mythic heroes as appropriate credit.

The problem with my wheel example is that it demonstrates the absurdity of trying to assign credit to anyone involved, but it doesn't quite demonstrate how difficult it is to even draw a rough line. Does the inventor of the abacus get credit in the creation of computer science? The discovery of electricity? And what about all the (comparatively) minor inventions and discoveries off the back of those?

As far as I can see it, it either needs to be completely subjective, or there needs to be a line. Maybe it doesn't need to be incredibly specific, although at that point some subjectivity creeps back in

[mbostleman]

Agreed. The mainstream needs a single or at least smaller list of heroes that represent a larger effort. Turing is especially suited for this given the oppression he suffered for his sexual orientation combined with the impact of lives saved in WWII as a result of his work.