271–280 of 376 posts
Bill Gates had bonds with Epstein. His multi decade marriage fell after the fact became public. He didn't get 1% the flak that Stallman had for commenting about a word to describe Marvin Minsky.
"The original Remove Richard Stallman post contained leaked communications from a private mailing list. In it, the author quotes an email from Stallman where he explains that Marvin Minsky likely wouldn’t have known that the woman on Jeffrey Epstein’s island was coerced: …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…
So, in the end, RMS lecture in 2023 was cancelled because of a controversy that happened 2 years ago that since then has been solved? IMO it just looks bad for EPFL if they decided to cancel the lecture based solely on this. If they knew about it, then why tell RMS he could hold a lecture only for them to cancel it on the last minute to bring back this topic again? Exaggerating a bit but this is like inviting Linus T…
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I honestly gotta ask. Why is it that half the planet commenting on young sex with very strong, very critical opinions, keeps confusing the age of consent with the age you're allowed to vote? On 99% of the planet, if a 17yo acts like, and is willing to screw your brains out, you're good to go and quite legal. In fact, same for a 16yo. In fact, on half the planet including a large portion stateside, that works for 15 t…
American culture, including Puritanism, being exported worldwide since the 1980s, first through Hollywood and then through tech. You will not find a less Puritanical view of the matter on a forum composed of mostly people from the US or deeply embedded within its culture, like many software engineers are. For US and tech, sex talk and sexual freedom is a concept best avoided. You'll find more people arguing against g…
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Who cares what his thoughts and opinions are! As long as he doesn’t harm anyone I couldn’t give a damn! We don’t shun people for abhorrent thought, only abhorrent behavior!
I can't read French (shoot, scroll down to the English), but I believe he was originally invited to share his thoughts and opinions. So the audience of EPFL cared. Now, EPFL doesn't want to risk giving a platform to, or otherwise being associated with, potentially problematic speech that they do not control. I'm sure he can still be a member of the audience at EPFL, so I don't know that this is shunning, per se.
My read of the French is TLDR: [starts out by mentioning some people are complaining about RMS being schedule to talk], then: "We have considered the decisions of certain organizations that serve as examples for us and have made certain choices in the past" ("avons considéré les décisions de certaines organisations qui nous servent d’exemple et qui ont fait certains choix avant nous"). then they go on to say they've…
I also think it is interesting to note (for non natives) that they use the interpunct character in their writing, which is used by some french speakers to 'de-gender' french, similar to the usage of the singular 'they' in english. (développeur / développeuse -> développeur·euse·s). This practice is coming from the 'intersectional' movement, which is pretty similar to the woke movement in the US. This practice is quit…
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In what way do you disagree with the above? Could you elaborate?
Categorically immoral, really? Utter nonsense. Morality is a cultural construct, that radically changes over time. Whoever thinks otherwise is simply ignorant there is a wider world outside their reality bubble.
Was really looking forward it :-/ The wording of the cancellation is just ... wierd. Just as if they have to say something, but don't really want to say anything at the same time. Such a wishy-washy bs.
It really feels like a new Victorian age is upon us. Not only are you allowed to show an ankle under your skirt, even talking about female legs is frowned upon. The similarities go deeper than that. A mostly-uncontested empire (then, British, now, American) produced a leisure class that does not really have anything better to do than play zero-sum Moral Olympic Games. Which also means that the only way out is in incr…
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> Broadly speaking, if someone is accused of a moral crime about which you have no privileged information, publicly hypothesizing about how they might be innocent is tantamount to a defence. What ??? How ??? Are we supposed to assume that every accusation we hear about is true, and everyone is guilty until proven innocent?
> Are we supposed to assume that every accusation we hear about is true, and everyone is guilty until proven innocent No. Not publicly* commenting on an accusation is very different from blindly accepting it. (Note the caveats: moral crime and your having no new information.) * I recognise he made these comments on a “private” mailing list, but I have to assume someone like RMS understands the futility of trying to k…
TBH in Europe "canceling" a meeting is quite common in French and Italian, while the social media inclined "woke" version is almost never used. The title is in French and I think it reflects the most common usage of the verb here, to void a meeting.
We ll never know what "the situation" is and whatever "statements that do not correspond to any of our values" are. Good job smearing mud without saying anything i guess. Did stallman say something since he was invited that was particularly noticeable? if not then these organizers don't know what they 're doing and this reflects bad on them