With all due respect, and acknowledging many other bright people with a similar situation (i.e Bill Gates), he comes across as being on the autism/aspergers spectrum.
RMS lifestyle
91–100 of 229 posts
Re: RMS lifestyle
#92Earlier quoted context omitted.
Edit: Fuck you HN. RMS is an extremist. I should hope that most of you have the critical thinking skills to realize that his extremism is just as dangerous as Timothy McVeigh's. Edit 2: Honest question, how can I delete my account on HN? I've come to realize (sadly) how many hours I've wasted on this bullshit. PG, please ban this account.
> Edit 2: Honest question, how can I delete my account on HN? In your profile settings, you will find two boxes marked "maxvisit" and "minaway". If you set those to a small value (like 1) and a large value (like say 60 24 30), and then ALSO set "noprocrast" to "yes", you'll basically be unable to use your account.
Why not "delete my account"?
Re: RMS lifestyle
#93Can someone explain to me his rationale for having websites mailed to himself?
Given the amount of web sites he blogs about each day, I can't imagine he still uses this email workflow. On May 31st he made more than 30 posts:
Re: RMS lifestyle
#94How does he reconcile using somebody else's cell phone to make a call if he's not willing to use one himself?
Re: RMS lifestyle
#95Genius or not, is he a misanthrope? Yes, he has a splendid list of cool things he's done, and he's a luminary. But why compile a list of things that basically says, "I generally don't like people, the things most people do or have, or the silly rituals most people enjoy." I can respect his opinions, but he comes across as very condescending... That said, I do admire how much of a diehard he is about his beliefs. Not…
I try reading this while assuming the benefit of the doubt. I don't think he's doing it on purpose (it feels like he isn't even aware that he's doing it). It makes the entire thing easier to read.
This kind of thinking did happen to me when I tried to generate a consistent world view.
At this point, there are just too many contradictions, I'd rather forget and simply accept the absurd.
For example, being an atheist, I don't particularly believe in holidays myself. I do enjoy myself with my family even if it mean a few capitalists make a little more money during the season. On the whole, a meaningless event makes the whole world happy.
I'm of a fairly open religion (Hinduism). So, there aren't ardent rules you need to waste time with.
Re: RMS lifestyle
#96Stallman's honors and awards for just some of the great work he's done (like launching the GNU Project, founding the Free Software Foundation, developing the GNU Compiler Collection and GNU Emacs): 1986: Honorary lifetime membership of the Chalmers University of Technology Computer Society 1990: Exceptional merit award MacArthur Fellowship ("genius grant") 1990: The Association for Computing Machinery's Grace Murray…
Copy pasta much?
> But here on Hacker News (of all places), let's instead criticize his personal preferences on fucking ties.
So someone writes about their personal life, and then people discuss it. What the heck does a whole bunch of honorary doctorates from Latin America have to do with this? Obviously the people in Latin America like him.
As far as I'm concerned, a single actual doctorate is worth more than all of that, or say an equivalent feat like writing gcc, emacs, gdb, and the GPL (iirc). But nevertheless, even those significant accomplishments don't make his personal opinions sacred to the point of inoculating them against possible counterpoints.
Guy states a bunch of preferences on internet, preferences are now up for discussion. End of. I thought it was an interesting read.
Re: RMS lifestyle
#97Earlier quoted context omitted.
Until he parks a truck full of explosives outside a federal building and kills 168 innocents (including 19 children under 6), I think not. Now, pipe down and let the adults speak.
Yeah, because body count is the only comparator that matters. Extremism is extremism. RMS is an extremist. I want nothing to do with someone who is incapable of empathizing with the other side.
Oh, I get it, you're an anti-extremism extremist.
You should try to empathize with RMS.
Re: RMS lifestyle
#98Stallman's honors and awards for just some of the great work he's done (like launching the GNU Project, founding the Free Software Foundation, developing the GNU Compiler Collection and GNU Emacs): 1986: Honorary lifetime membership of the Chalmers University of Technology Computer Society 1990: Exceptional merit award MacArthur Fellowship ("genius grant") 1990: The Association for Computing Machinery's Grace Murray…
Surely several of these are possible, by any individual, at once.
You can admire and benefit from Stallman's work and achievements, without necessarily agreeing with all of his positions.
And if someone essentially judges you morally deficient for as much as using a cellphone or MS Windows, it's kind of open season to judge him on superficial things like his choice of ties or personal habits, in return.
Re: RMS lifestyle
#99It annoys me how willing he is to push the externalities of his decisions onto other people. ("I won't carry a cell phone, but fortunately everyone else does and I can just mooch off of them"). It's like that friend who won't own a car but sure as hell will mooch a ride. This reminds me of a story my friend told me. Back in the early 90's(?) my friend had his lunch eaten by RMS, several times. I don't think it was ma…
It is not a problem if his friends don't object to borrowing him a phone, nor is it Stallman's responsibility to carry a phone so that his friends don't even have to not object.
If someone doesn't like him asking for a phone or lunch or whatever, then I assume it would be up to that someone to reject his request. It's not like Stallman goes around grabbing people's phones or lunches without asking first.
Re: RMS lifestyle
#100I see a lot of shock at the negative comments about RMS here. Those who are appalled at the lack of respect here need to understand that there are a lot of people within the tech world that have developed very complicated feelings about RMS over the course of the past 20-30 years. I mean, sure, a lot of people who don't know a whole lot about him or haven't had to deal with him over the course of decades might have s…
I've had a similar experience, and I appreciate the compassion in your post.