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Aaron Swartz commits suicide

tech.mit.edu

451–460 of 583 posts

Re: Aaron Swartz commits suicide

#451
post #406

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Maybe you feel like arguing this line with his mom?" How do you know the person who setup that account and posted that is actually his mom?

I don't. How do you know she isn't? Until I have evidence to the contrary I tend to believe what people say.

[deleted]

Re: Aaron Swartz commits suicide

#452

Thank you all for your kind words and thoughts. Aaron has been depressed about his case/upcoming trial, but we had no idea what he was going through was this painful. Aaron was a terrific young man. He contributed a lot to the world in his short life and I regret the loss of all the things he had yet to accomplish. As you can imagine, we all miss him dearly. The grief is unfathomable. Aaron's mother

No Mother should have to bury their own child regardless of the cause of death. My heart goes out to you and I hope you will rest with the knowledge that your son will be remembered as a true patriot, to whom we all owe a huge Thanks. If their were more people like Aaron this planet would surely be a better place to live. Stay strong and You are in my prayers.

Re: Aaron Swartz commits suicide

#453
Basically: if you feel strongly about JSTOR and it's ilk do the following in order of preference

1. Publish in an open access journal 2. Publish in a regular journal and make YOUR version available in http://arxiv.org/ or your website

It will get you more citations and you will do your part in disseminating science

Re: Aaron Swartz commits suicide

#454
post #308

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "Thus Master Wayne is left without solutions. Out of options, it’s no wonder the series ends with his staged suicide." Haunting. edit : It's an insightful piece of writing purely in its own right, as are the rest of his works that I have come across.

Also, his second to last blog post was an analysis of Looper, which also ends in a sacrificial suicide.

thanks for that.

Re: Aaron Swartz commits suicide

#455

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Aaron Swartz did something he knew was morally right but very probably illegal in some way, and, him being a prodigy, I'm very confident he was aware of this. It is called activism, and is a very brave and noble thing to do, something most people don't have the guts for. Governments often try to break activists who threaten their agenda (or in this case, that of a dying industry), and it seems they have succeeded wit…

This is terrible news, but, not knowing much about the case, how was it morally right to download a bunch of pay-for documents?

All academic journals where the underlying research was paid for by the state should be available to any taxpayer without cost -- which for all practical purposes means any person without cost -- because they have already paid for them.

Paywalled journals are a form of rent-seeking which while arguably an acceptable evil in the days of print are an unacceptable evil today.

Re: Aaron Swartz commits suicide

#456

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Aaron Swartz did something he knew was morally right but very probably illegal in some way, and, him being a prodigy, I'm very confident he was aware of this. It is called activism, and is a very brave and noble thing to do, something most people don't have the guts for. Governments often try to break activists who threaten their agenda (or in this case, that of a dying industry), and it seems they have succeeded wit…

This is terrible news, but, not knowing much about the case, how was it morally right to download a bunch of pay-for documents?

Because most academic research is at least partly funded by taxpayers (even more so everywhere but in the US), and scientists pay submission fees (again, with taxpayer money) to cover what the journals consider their contribution to the process. For some more information about the business practices of this industry, this is a nice, short text: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/apr/22/academic-pu...

Re: Aaron Swartz commits suicide

#457
post #406

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Maybe you feel like arguing this line with his mom?" How do you know the person who setup that account and posted that is actually his mom?

I don't. How do you know she isn't? Until I have evidence to the contrary I tend to believe what people say.

"How do you know she isn't?"

I questioned what you said I didn't (when I asked you) state that the poster wasn't his mother. I don't know that she is or isn't.

That said I will now say that I feel that it's highly unlikely that a mother who has lost her son to suicide is going to open up a HN account [1] and post something when a loss like this happens.

Of course if a HN admin has access to IP addresses or where and how the account was setup or some other non public information that's something else.

[1] Adding: so quickly after the loss

Re: Aaron Swartz commits suicide

#458
post #240

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It really rubs me the wrong way when something like this happens and folks jump to conclusions as you have here. You didn't know this person. For all we know he could have not given two shits about the whole legal process and this is linked to family or relationship problems or long term general depression.

I worked closely with Aaron over the last year, and knew him, though not as well as I would have liked. My belief is that the legal process weighed on him tremendously, though he didn't often show it. I am very, very angry with our system right now.

[deleted]

Re: Aaron Swartz commits suicide

#459
post #56
post #34

Better eulogies will follow, to be sure, but in the mean time, much of what can be said about him is captured in a touching talk he gave called "How to Get a Job Like Mine" [1]. What I think is especially touching about this is how he gently deconstructs his success, demystifying his own legend by pulling back the curtain on what would have otherwise appeared to be a string of miraculous accomplishments. In the proce…

'I thought of suicide.' I winced when I got to that. It's sad to think this isn't the first time he's had these thoughts and how long he must have had them. Rest in peace.

I ran from the police.

I wonder what that meant (appears just after the sentence you quote).

Re: Aaron Swartz commits suicide

#460

Thank you all for your kind words and thoughts. Aaron has been depressed about his case/upcoming trial, but we had no idea what he was going through was this painful. Aaron was a terrific young man. He contributed a lot to the world in his short life and I regret the loss of all the things he had yet to accomplish. As you can imagine, we all miss him dearly. The grief is unfathomable. Aaron's mother

This is terrible news and I am very sorry to learn of it. I have tremendous respect for Aaron's activism, and I am sure that I am not the only one who feels that way.
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