Interview with Edward Snowden

Edward Snowden is a useful idiot.

I do wonder which specific philosophical objection to suicide Snowden ascribes to?

One thing I always find striking is that Snowden is very good at articulating himself on the fly. He doesn’t always “sell” the general audience, as he gets too technical. However, he’s extremely good at providing solid answers consistently to pretty much every question.

> Defenestration

The act of throwing out of a window. Early 17th century from modern Latin defenestratio(n-), from de- ‘down from’ + Latin fenestra ‘window’.

> a guy who was supposed to be teaching me...sometimes...would spin around in his chair, showing me nudes of whatever target's wife he's looking at. And he's like: "Bonus!"

And that's just a lackey... this only worries me as to what a determined, calculating person is capable of with these tools.

> The most important part of the Rubik's cube was actually not as a concealment device, but a distraction device...I really gave Rubik's cubes to everyone in my office as gifts and guards saw me coming and going with this Rubik's cube all the time. So I was the Rubik's cube guy. And when I came out of the tunnel with my contraband and saw one of the bored guards, I sometimes tossed the cube to him. He's like, "Oh, man, I had one of these things when I was a kid, but you know, I could never solve it. So I just pulled the stickers off." That was exactly what I had done -- but for different reasons.

Love this, totally poetic at the end there. This really does read like a kid's spy thriller.

Can't wait to read the book.