Wider issues in society always affect what we do in our work lives, for a number of reasons.
Very few of us work purely in the technology industry. That is, our customers or market are not technical in nature, technology is usually used in support of other goals.
More pertinent to this case, Alan Turing’s life and death shows us how issues such as sexuality affect technical work. Who knows what Alan may have done had he lived longer, or what he would have achieved if he wasn't side-lined when he was alive.
In particular terms of why it is newsworthy on HN, as per the guidelines "Anything that good hackers would find interesting. That includes more than hacking and startups. If you had to reduce it to a sentence, the answer might be: anything that gratifies one's intellectual curiosity."
For me as a hacker, it falls right within this definition.
One of the most notable chemists of the 20th century, Percy Julian, was black and had to expend significant effort working around resulting prejudice. [1]
If you don't think prejudice influences technical progress, look also at motivations influencing various development efforts throughout that century as well as any other historically documented century.
As for Turing, the question remains: If his death was suicide, or homicide, what additional contributions were thereby lost? (I realize the current dialog is exploring the possibility of accident. The ongoing dialog about his death -- including by notable technologists -- is what is making these potential discoveries possible.)
And there is the different, perhaps somewhat opposing view. If Julian hadn't had to work so hard to overcome opposition? If Turing's personal life hadn't made him so aware of the importance of secrets and privacy? Would they have developed in the same direction?
I think it is relevant because it is human beings who are developing these technologies. And consider, here on HN and in the press, we tend to celebrate those very human beings who don't separate their work and personal lives -- for whom it isn't simply "a job".
