4 ms·
RMS Quits GNU Project
- enriquto 7y agoIt is impossible to express how sad these events are... we had a new Socrates and we gave him the hemlock again, for reasons even more ridiculous than two thousand years ago.
- SomeOtherThrow 7y agoHe had a full career and he’s still alive. Quit being ridiculous.
- chachachoney 7y agoMetaphors are quite useful tools.
- happytoexplain 7y agoAre you being sarcastic, or do you see the parent post as an attack on the concept of metaphor?
- chachachoney 7y ago>>Are you being sarcastic, or do you see the parent post as an attack on the concept of metaphor? Given that the parent post has been substatially edited without comment after a reply was posted, it's a moot point to comment on the response sans original context.
- wbrando 7y agohad a new "Socrates" that defended a serial sex trafficker* and made those who worked around him extremely uncomfortable very often. Also as others have mentioned, he still had a very full career and is most likely still doing what he enjoys, just not in the same context or places as before. edit: never directly defended Epstein, my error. this does not excuse his other behavior in any way.
- newnewpdro 7y ago> defended a serial sex trafficker What? RMS never did any such thing. Citation needed.
- wbrando 7y agohttps://www.thedailybeast.com/famed-mit-computer-scientist-richard-stallman-defends-epstein-victims-were-entirely-willing https://www.thedailybeast.com/famed-mit-computer-scientist-r...
- dx87 7y agoYou should read his actual emails, he never defended Epstein. Sites were just parroting what they read on a medium article written by someone with an axe to grind who'd never met RMS.
- gizmo686 7y agoStallman's "defense" of a serial sex trafficker (applogogies for the poor transcription, I just did some minor corrections to the OCR from vice): "The announcement of the Friday event does an injustice to Marvin Minsky: deceased Al "pioneer" Marvin Minsky (who is accused of assaulting one of Epstein's victims The injustice is in the word "assaulting". The term "sexual assault" is so vague and slippery that it facilitates accusation inflation: taking claims that someone did and leading people to think of it as Y, which is much worse than X. The accusation quoted is a clear example of in?ation. The reference reports the claim that Minsky had sex with one of Epstein?s harem. (See [URL that didn't make it through OCR]) Let's presume that was true (I see no reason to disbelieve it). The word "assaulting" presumes that he applied force or violence, in some unspecified way, but the article itself says no such thing. Only that they had sex. We can imagine many scenarios, but the most plausible scenario is that she presented herself to him as entirely willing. Assuming she was being coerced by Epstein, he would have had every reason to tell her to conceal that from most of his associates. l've concluded from various examples of accusation inflation that it is absolutely wrong to use the term "sexual assault" in an accusation. Whatever conduct you want to criticize, you should describe it with a specific term that avoids moral vagueness about the nature of the criticism. " [0] As an aside. as discussed in the thread, it is not clear if any first party even accused Minsky of engaging in the alleged sex in the first place [0] https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/9ke3ke/famed-computer-scientist-richard-stallman-described-epstein-victims-as-entirely-willing https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/9ke3ke/famed-computer-sci...
- happytoexplain 7y agoPersonally, I think the comparison to Socrates drinking the hemlock is probably a little dramatic for this scenario. Or at least a little bit idealistic on RMS and a little bit harsh on "us".
- jstewartmobile 7y agoI wonder if he'd take donations for a personal break rather than for GNU? Judging by his website, he gets wrapped up in the whole world's biz. A stretch of RMS-time is probably long overdue.
- DoreenMichele 7y agoDupe: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21103133 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21103133
- labster 7y agoWow, this site is the best Twitter interface I’ve ever seen. Loads fast, no stupid replies, written with free software.
- panny 7y agoThe Twitter bullies will be so happy and think it was their voice that made the difference. In truth, they are nothing without the antifreedom Twitter mods promoting their hate.
- whyenot 7y agoThis is sad, but it was also bound to happen eventually. I went to one of his talks a few years ago, and what had been billed as a one hour talk dragged on for almost 2 1/2 hours. After the first hour, people were getting up and leaving. Whenever anyone did, he would call them out from the stage. It was very awkward. While I believe strongly in Free Software, I think the movement would really benefit from a new more charismatic leader, someone from a younger generation. I hate to say that because RMS has given and sacrificed so much, but times have changed.
- p4bl0 7y agoThe same message where he resigns as head of the GNU project is posted both on the 27th and the 28th of September on this page. Strange.
- tptacek 7y agoHuge thread already here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21103133 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21103133 Most importantly, the top comment observes that it's somewhat likely this is fake.