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It 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 thou

It 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 ago
He had a full career and he’s still alive. Quit being ridiculous.
- chachachoney 7y ago
  Metaphors are quite useful tools.
  - happytoexplain 7y ago
    Are 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 ago
had 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 ago
    https://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 ago
      You 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 ago
        Stallman'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 ago
Personally, 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".

It 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 ago

He had a full career and he’s still alive. Quit being ridiculous.

chachachoney 7y ago
Metaphors are quite useful tools.
- happytoexplain 7y ago
  Are 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 ago

had 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 ago
  https://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 ago
    You 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 ago
      Stallman'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 ago

Personally, 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".