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My favourite part of this is watching what RMS has to say, watching it come to pass, and, finally, watching others dismiss his newer concerns. People may not li

My favourite part of this is watching what RMS has to say, watching it come to pass, and, finally, watching others dismiss his newer concerns. People may not like him as a person, and that's neither here nor there. What's depressing is the continued sleepwalking (by society at large, and geeky sub-groups in particular) into a dystopian future where the OEM has all the power.

hilbert42 4y ago
"What's depressing is the continued sleepwalking (by society at large, and geeky sub-groups in particular)..." RMS isn't the most lovable person around but he's pretty much always been factual and on message. Why people - especially those 'in the know' - cannot separate their dislike of a person from his/her message is something that I don't quite understand. Discarding a message on the grounds of disliking the messenger is illogical and it makes me wince whenever I see it in those who ought to know better. The truly worrying and troubling aspect of this is that I've never considered myself the most level headed or logical person in the world (the volume control on my amygdala is broken and I often can't turn its 'noise' down). So when I see techies behaving more illogically than me I have grave concerns for the world. I experience cognitive dissonance regularly (it's difficult not to in this day and age), however I'm not only aware of the fact but also I'm continually fighting and reasoning with the conundrums it raises. Again, it's somewhat of a mystery to me why many of those who are of a technical and logical bent aren't similarly conflicted. You're right, it's very depressing when many of the intelligentsia are asleep at the wheel and or refuse responsibly. The consequences are that it's not only the OEMs we have to worry about but also those authoritarians who'll take charge in the intelligentsia's absence. Without ongoing logical and reasoned debate a dystopian future is almost certainly assured.

hilbert42 4y ago

"What's depressing is the continued sleepwalking (by society at large, and geeky sub-groups in particular)..." RMS isn't the most lovable person around but he's pretty much always been factual and on message. Why people - especially those 'in the know' - cannot separate their dislike of a person from his/her message is something that I don't quite understand. Discarding a message on the grounds of disliking the messenger is illogical and it makes me wince whenever I see it in those who ought to know better. The truly worrying and troubling aspect of this is that I've never considered myself the most level headed or logical person in the world (the volume control on my amygdala is broken and I often can't turn its 'noise' down). So when I see techies behaving more illogically than me I have grave concerns for the world. I experience cognitive dissonance regularly (it's difficult not to in this day and age), however I'm not only aware of the fact but also I'm continually fighting and reasoning with the conundrums it raises. Again, it's somewhat of a mystery to me why many of those who are of a technical and logical bent aren't similarly conflicted. You're right, it's very depressing when many of the intelligentsia are asleep at the wheel and or refuse responsibly. The consequences are that it's not only the OEMs we have to worry about but also those authoritarians who'll take charge in the intelligentsia's absence. Without ongoing logical and reasoned debate a dystopian future is almost certainly assured.