What a boring interview.
The questions he asked doesn't even give us new insight into Linus's opinions on tech.
25 Years Later: Interview with Linus Torvalds
31–40 of 146 posts
Re: 25 Years Later: Interview with Linus Torvalds
#32Heh, he's using an XPS 13. Take that, Thinkpad snobs.
Needs more detail, though. I want to know if he's using Mad WiFi or a wired connection, and listening to music very loudly while using it ;)
Re: 25 Years Later: Interview with Linus Torvalds
#33Btw. ice hockey is _not_ the national sport of Finland (it's not even the national sport of Canada!). The Finnish national sport is pesäpallo (Finnish baseball).
Re: 25 Years Later: Interview with Linus Torvalds
#34Earlier quoted context omitted.
There is no feasible way to separate politics from everyday life, and leaving "politics to those who knows about it" isn't really viable. Anyone with a platform whether it is sports, tech, culture should consider what message they are sending. Because there is a message, even from quiet people. "Not politicising" is a political act and statement as well. There is no dodging politics. Saying "I just play football, I l…
> Anyone with a platform whether it is sports, tech, culture should consider what message they are sending. They do, their message is usually related to their field of expertise. A good sportsman will act as an example of how to be a good sport, how to conduct yourself when you lose, how to be a good winner, etc. A good OS maintainer will set an example through code and their leadership will show the team what is and…
> They do, their message is usually related to their field of expertise. A good sportsman will act as an example of how to be a good sport, how to conduct yourself when you lose, how to be a good winner, etc. A good OS maintainer will set an example through code and their leadership will show the team what is and isn't acceptable.
It's rarely that easy. Suddenly you'll be forced to either accept a code of conduct, or actively choose not to do so. The decision will be seen as a political one regardless of whether the person making the decision thinks it is.
The footballer will need to decide whether or not to take a knee during the national anthem, and by no decision of their own (it wasn't their protest!) they are now forced to take a political stance and probably motivate it. There
So in some cases you are lucky and you can "just be an engineer" or "just be an athlete" and the positions you take are harmless and apolitical "I like charities and being a good sport!". But suddenly they will be forced to take positions that are both political and controversial. The audience wasn't there of course to hear Linus Torvalds' views on equality or some footballers stance on politics or racism - but there they are. You can't follow an engineer or a footballer that isn't also a human with opinions you may or may not like. So while it's some times nice to not have to worry about politics in some context - it's always just beneath the surface.
Re: 25 Years Later: Interview with Linus Torvalds
#35Earlier quoted context omitted.
There is no feasible way to separate politics from everyday life, and leaving "politics to those who knows about it" isn't really viable. Anyone with a platform whether it is sports, tech, culture should consider what message they are sending. Because there is a message, even from quiet people. "Not politicising" is a political act and statement as well. There is no dodging politics. Saying "I just play football, I l…
>There is no feasible way to separate politics from everyday life. I got up early this morning to look at the fog that had rolled across the city. Politicise that. > and leaving "politics to those who knows about it" isn't really viable. Viability is relevant to desired outcomes. What outcome do you desire? Is that outcome a political reality? Given you believe everything is politics anyway - we can safely assume yes…
> I got up early this morning to look at the fog that had rolled across the city. Politicise that.
What are you doing to ensure that in 10 or 20 years time other people will be able to do the same? Your ability to look at the fog rolling across the city is the result of a finely balanced set of climatic factors. If it's something you cherish, it is something you should think about preserving.
> Some of us - on the other hand - believe that the fewer the vectors of political co-ercion there are - the better.
But you're happy to do nothing, other than hope that technology will fix it.
... Clearly I'm exaggerating to make a point, and I know nothing about your political beliefs, but I hope you understand the point that I'm making.
Re: 25 Years Later: Interview with Linus Torvalds
#36> Bob: Anything else you want to comment on, either publicly or otherwise? > Linus: I've never had some "message" that I wanted to spread, so ... It's a pity that a man with such influence has no message that he wants to spread, but I can somehow understand this respond. My personal take of this quote can refer to another quote from his TED interview[1]: > I’m an engineer. I’m perfectly happy with all the people who…
> While I wish such leader can speak for values like democracy or human rights, it is just not possible to happen. If you are a sensible person, you also know it's not possible to have an opinion about everything out there. Every topic is a rabbit hole if you want to understand everything in and out. Most politicians only touch at the surface of things and never go in details. I can understand why someone like an eng…
Engineers don't care to talk much about politics because typically in the development of tech, you only very rarely (if ever) encounter the kind of complex situation where you must resort to a political debate in order to differentiate between the better of two competing solutions that address the same underlying issue.
What I mean is that good ideas in tech tend to be somewhat of a logically sound and mathematical nature.
Which means it doesn't matter what you believe about your code, or what you had to go through to write it, or what it would mean to society if we just used your code regardless because you just so happen to belong to some historically oppressed minority group that is under represented in the tech industry as a whole.
If your code isn't demonstrated as being technologically superior after measured up against my code, guess what... your code goes in the trash, mine gets merged upstream, and everybody gets to come to the common consensus that as far as all the bits in our cosmos are concerned, every thing can be explained as being binary.
Re: 25 Years Later: Interview with Linus Torvalds
#37Earlier quoted context omitted.
There is no feasible way to separate politics from everyday life, and leaving "politics to those who knows about it" isn't really viable. Anyone with a platform whether it is sports, tech, culture should consider what message they are sending. Because there is a message, even from quiet people. "Not politicising" is a political act and statement as well. There is no dodging politics. Saying "I just play football, I l…
>There is no feasible way to separate politics from everyday life. I got up early this morning to look at the fog that had rolled across the city. Politicise that. > and leaving "politics to those who knows about it" isn't really viable. Viability is relevant to desired outcomes. What outcome do you desire? Is that outcome a political reality? Given you believe everything is politics anyway - we can safely assume yes…
> I got up early this morning to look at the fog that had rolled across the city. Politicise that.
If you have been in Seoul or Beijing, this sentence automatically politicises itself. Not fog but smoke though.
Re: 25 Years Later: Interview with Linus Torvalds
#38Earlier quoted context omitted.
>While I wish such leader can speak for values like democracy or human rights... Or maybe people who have no particular expertise in political matters should stop opining so much about them? And maybe we should stop politicising all aspects of culture and existence. There is so much more to life.
There is no feasible way to separate politics from everyday life, and leaving "politics to those who knows about it" isn't really viable. Anyone with a platform whether it is sports, tech, culture should consider what message they are sending. Because there is a message, even from quiet people. "Not politicising" is a political act and statement as well. There is no dodging politics. Saying "I just play football, I l…
> "Not politicising" is a political act and statement as well. There is no dodging politics.
Sigh. Are you posting this Twitter meme seriously or is it a joke? It doesn't even stand up to light intellectual scrutiny.
As for actors, musicians etc blabbering about politics, the things they say tend to be elitist, disconnected and uninformed. Don't think it does the world any good, apart from highlighting just how far removed they are from the common man.
Re: 25 Years Later: Interview with Linus Torvalds
#39Earlier quoted context omitted.
>While I wish such leader can speak for values like democracy or human rights... Or maybe people who have no particular expertise in political matters should stop opining so much about them? And maybe we should stop politicising all aspects of culture and existence. There is so much more to life.
There is no feasible way to separate politics from everyday life, and leaving "politics to those who knows about it" isn't really viable. Anyone with a platform whether it is sports, tech, culture should consider what message they are sending. Because there is a message, even from quiet people. "Not politicising" is a political act and statement as well. There is no dodging politics. Saying "I just play football, I l…
> If you have listeners you have a responsibility
I've noticed the people who make such claims tend to have horrible politics that need a signal boost. There's a reason why you need to latch onto the success of others and resent those who will not play ball. Have fun with that.
@coldtea: If your ideas are so virtuous, you wouldn't need such fervent help. They're not.
Re: 25 Years Later: Interview with Linus Torvalds
#40> Bob: Anything else you want to comment on, either publicly or otherwise? > Linus: I've never had some "message" that I wanted to spread, so ... It's a pity that a man with such influence has no message that he wants to spread, but I can somehow understand this respond. My personal take of this quote can refer to another quote from his TED interview[1]: > I’m an engineer. I’m perfectly happy with all the people who…
>While I wish such leader can speak for values like democracy or human rights, it is just not possible to happen.
Why would he have any great insight on "democracy or human rights" compared the average population? Because he wrote successful software?