171–180 of 229 posts
Time to rename the site to "Hater News".
Genius 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…
From Wikipedia: "Misanthropy is the general hatred, mistrust or disdain of the human species or human nature"
Nah, just a "difficult" person, at least based on our interactions in the '80s. He wasn't that bad a person to be around as long as you're not in one of his "bad" categories, i.e. there was a big change in our interactions where I started to work for "Software Hoarder" UniPress after previously working at e.g. Lisp Machine Inc.
I wonder if he tries to be different so he can be different and unique, and that all his bluster and quirks come from this desire for uniqueness rather than his fight for "freedom."
Can someone explain to me his rationale for having websites mailed to himself?
Ads, tracking cookies, annoying JavaScript, Facebook like buttons (tracking), inane comments just to name a few. Modern websites are pretty horrible.
It just seems like an odd, circuitous route to take. I would have expected him to just use Lynx or something.
I get the impression that this lifestyle is a very solitary one although it does seem to be by choice. Which is fine but he seems to make quite a few assumptions about the way other people live their life and why. For example: "However, there is an absurd social pressure on men to wear ties. They do this as a form of sucking up to the boss." Perhaps they just like the way they look in tie? ---------------------------…
I think the post might be old (though post 1998). Tie wearers haven't been the majority in any tech setting I can think of post dot-com boom (although I have no experience of academia where they may well remain hot.) I'm a frequent tie wearer and tend to be the odd one out nowadays even in management-heavy situations! :-)
If you'd been in those circles in the '80s, you clearly would have been viewed as eccentric as RMS for being a "frequent tie wearer", but all else being equal, we would have loved you as much as we loved him ^_^.
Stallman'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.
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For phones to function they have to talk to cellular towers continuously. You can triangulate a location based on the chatter. Phone companies also keep detailed logs.
What about being made into listening devices? That would require turning on the microphone and transmitting the signal without the user noticing. Is that possible?
The problem boils down to this: baseband (the chip doing the GSM, LTE, .. communication) processors are completely propietary. There is no source for the software running on them, it's a big binary blob. And the other big problem is that baseband processors have become a hub for any analog processing. They run the GPS chip and they are the DSP for the microphones. Combine access to all vital systems and the primary communication link, and business practices in the big, sometimes partially government owned, companies producing the software for these chips.. it makes for an explosive mixture in a "mobile first" world.
Recommended talks: http://vimeo.com/25806106 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1lYU0VMCoY
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Ads, tracking cookies, annoying JavaScript, Facebook like buttons (tracking), inane comments just to name a few. Modern websites are pretty horrible.
Everything but the inane comments I can understand. If you want to avoid those, you might as well just move to a Tibetan monastery. It just seems like an odd, circuitous route to take. I would have expected him to just use Lynx or something.
It 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…
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RMS is legendary for not getting up before the crack of noon. "Breakfast" is for "mornings". he has neither.
Is that really what he means though? Most people use the word "breakfast" to refer to the first meal of the day (or lack thereof) eaten within a few hours of waking up. Also the type of food. If you sleep in on a Saturday until noon, you'll probably tend to want breakfast food when you first wake up. The time of day is far behind those two factors for what constitutes breakfast in popular usage.
It's 9am on a Saturday here and I just ate two slices of cold pizza. Not everyone desires "breakfast food" first thing in the moring. :)