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Richard Stallman’s Exit Heralds a New Era in Tech

wired.com

21–30 of 69 posts

Re: Richard Stallman’s Exit Heralds a New Era in Tech

#21
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What was her complaint exactly? Are men not supposed to ask her out?

Uh, it’s certainly not appropriate to ask someone you’ve just met at a technical conference to go on a date with you.

Why not? It's a bit direct and perhaps odd and unexpected, but also polite, possibly flattering, and a very decent way of taking a chance on getting to know someone who you will likely not meet again unless you take action, better. If the response to the rejection of that offer is polite and professional, then how is this inappropriate?

Re: Richard Stallman’s Exit Heralds a New Era in Tech

#22
Huh... I read the CSAIL email thread, and it seems like RMS was discussing distinctions between forcible acts, statutory acts, and coercion by a third party (e.g. Epstein being, in essence, a human-trafficking pimp...).

RMS seemed to be arguing for clear description instead of jumping to "everything is child rape".

I don't know exactly where RMS is coming from, but, knowing victims of forcible and child sexual assault, I think it's still worth maintaining descriptive, moral, and legal distinctions...

Re: Richard Stallman’s Exit Heralds a New Era in Tech

#23
post #18
post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nobody expects the Inquisition.

I think it's pretty obvious that US propaganda and censorship machine pushed into tech at full force in the last couple of years, with all the manufacturing consent at all levels. When they forced codes of conduct, inquisition was already kind of expected.

Is Monty Python lost on this generation?

Re: Richard Stallman’s Exit Heralds a New Era in Tech

#24
> Later, he becomes so enthralled by his vision that he excuses—and is excused for—all the wreckage around him. Sound familiar? Is Mark Zuckerberg—the brilliant young man who dreamed of connecting the world and instead made everyone isolated and angry—very different? Is Sergey Brin or Larry Page?

Hahaha! Oh my, what utter crap. Zuckerberg, when did he ever show a true conviction to some higher ethical standards? Where is the positive ingenuity in anything Zuckerberg created? Is there even one thing that man did, that has not turned out to be an abomination? Tell me, what that man did, that _positively_ influenced anything besides human greed and his own wallet. That comparison is the most laughable that I heard in a loong time.

Up to that point, I already had a feeling about the tone of the article, but this then finally shows, that the author does not even know what they are writing about. The article is rubbish.

If there is wreckage around Stallman, then it is caused by him expressing himself in ways, which people tend to misunderstand, although he argues quite mathematically, maybe it is especially, because he does so. He does not care about gender stuff. He cares about what is getting done. Today's socialization is _unfortunately_ in a way, that not _many_ women get into computer science. When he then states something about more men contributing code to some project, he is making a mathematical statement about numbers, not about a gender issue. Why are people unable to understand that? Here is a typical example of people not being able to understand him and his way of making a logical argument: https://youtu.be/eG4HrOpzQXY

I very much doubt, that Stallman is in general against women in tech or anything similar claimed in the article and have never seen him saying anything like that. Seriously, what kind of crap about "female professors keeping plants, because Stallman does not like plants". Go to any office, where women work and check for plants. It is called socialization. We don't have to like it, but saying, that it does not exist, is certainly not going to help solving the issue.

Then we have the usual stupid writing going on about how the OS might be called "Linux", but Stallman wants it to be called "GNU/Linux". As if he was the only one person in the world wanting that. Download Linux and from the repositories and run your computer with that! What is wrong with these people? Can't they acknowledge _years_ of work in his youth and later on, basically life, this man put into creating something, that now they rely on every single day of their comparatively unproductive lives? Can we stop being uninformed and call the OS the name of the kernel? Can we prevent uninformed authors from writing more articles about tech, so that technically correct terms can finally win over wrong usage and being uninformed and work done is finally given appropriate credit?

The ungratefulness some people show towards Stallman is just so unbelievable.

Well, should not have expected a fair account from magazines like Wired in the first place.

Re: Richard Stallman’s Exit Heralds a New Era in Tech

#25
post #3

We can hope so. Free Software is needed in today’s society, probably more than it was needed at its inception. But it needs to be for everyone, and needs new leaders. I hope this is the start, not the end, of the movement.

I hope with you, but I doubt. There was nothing keeping new leaders from emerging before. Stallman never struck me as particularly jealous, just particular. We might just be witnessing the retirement of the only person with the single-mindedness and influence to keep the thing going.

Yes, FSF basically forked into its own not so free software movement, especially after some FSF people publicly joined the attack on Stallman. Old movement is dead, split, new movements are not going to be the same.

Re: Richard Stallman’s Exit Heralds a New Era in Tech

#26
post #23
post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's pretty obvious that US propaganda and censorship machine pushed into tech at full force in the last couple of years, with all the manufacturing consent at all levels. When they forced codes of conduct, inquisition was already kind of expected.

Is Monty Python lost on this generation?

[deleted]

Re: Richard Stallman’s Exit Heralds a New Era in Tech

#27
post #6

He asks her out on a date. She says no. He moves on. Is the Wired article mis-representing the gist of Christine Corbett Moran's complaint? Or is the author subtly trying to undermine her?

She got lucky. My own wife experienced this, but it involved a half hour of rms nerdsplaining about how people were all sheep.

Basically, you dudes might find this all befuddling, but women who have encountered rms are not surprised.

Re: Richard Stallman’s Exit Heralds a New Era in Tech

#28
post #9
post #6

He asks her out on a date. She says no. He moves on. Is the Wired article mis-representing the gist of Christine Corbett Moran's complaint? Or is the author subtly trying to undermine her?

What was her complaint exactly? Are men not supposed to ask her out?

I think it's OK for men to ask her out, unless those men have so much power over her that she might feel compelled to say yes for fear of negative consequences.

Re: Richard Stallman’s Exit Heralds a New Era in Tech

#29
post #9
post #6

He asks her out on a date. She says no. He moves on. Is the Wired article mis-representing the gist of Christine Corbett Moran's complaint? Or is the author subtly trying to undermine her?

What was her complaint exactly? Are men not supposed to ask her out?

I dont know whether what i heard refers to this specific incident, but i remember hearing about RMS asking someone out on a date, and after a rejection, he threatened to kill himself if she won’t go out with him [0].

And that’s not mentioning his infamous mattress in the office and how he propositioned to many of the female visitors to lay down on it topless [1] (i realize that i am citing reddit comments, but the OP seems pretty credible). This would be a problematic behavior for virtually anyone, but moreso for a public figure at a prestigious university.

0. https://medium.com/@selamie/remove-richard-stallman-appendix...

1. https://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/d59r46/comment...

Re: Richard Stallman’s Exit Heralds a New Era in Tech

#30
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What was her complaint exactly? Are men not supposed to ask her out?

Kind of gross for a guy in his 40s to be asking out a 19-year-old freshman at the university he's a professor at, isn't it? And in the first minute of their first conversation, and with no interest in her other than that. Also I'd say she wasn't complaining, or trying to condemn him. The facts kind of speak for themselves though--this is not a guy who makes women feel welcome.

Maybe he was hoping to date an intelligent woman, who would not judge him for his looks and got rejected, for whatever reason we do not know. However, thanks to your comment, we now know, why you would reject another person and it has everything to do with outward appearance. Thanks for informing us.

It seems, that she acted in an acceptable and correct way. Nothing wrong with rejecting someone. The only bad thing is, that some Internet person will come around and interpret her actions with an exclusive view on superficial appearance issues.

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