Aaron, 5 years later • Hacker News Board

Re: Aaron, 5 years later

#21

Post by sillysaurus3 » Sat, Jan 13, 2018, 10:12 PM UTC

jacquesm wrote: post #6

Hard to respond to this. Hard to believe it has already been five years. Thank you for writing that, not a week goes by that I don't see your brothers hand in something I'm using or that I read about. The whole open access movement and what has been achieved in those five years would have made Aaron both very happy and would have probably had him bouncing off the walls because 'it goes so slow'. Very few people appea…

We should also celebrate people's flaws. There's no such thing as an entirely good person.

Aaron had mental issues. But those same issues were what gave him strength, because they were a part of him. If you took them away, Aaron wouldn't be Aaron.

If we celebrate people's flaws, maybe people won't feel like they're not allowed to have flaws. And maybe that might help people who feel like ending it.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16089930

The response to that was overwhelmingly positive. Over 20 people reached out.

It feels time to help people who are concealing problems. The internet gives us recourse. I don't know Aaron's motivations toward the end, but it feels true that if he had just kept talking, things might have turned out differently.

Re: Aaron, 5 years later

#22

Post by firasd » Sat, Jan 13, 2018, 10:25 PM UTC

A touching note from Zephyr Teachout:

"I miss Aaron Swartz. He died 5 years ago today. He was a friend and a rare, huge, soul, and oh did he ever believe in freedom and the possibilities of the future. Wish you were still on call for late night IM strategy sessions, or philosophy, dear friend. I think of you." https://twitter.com/ZephyrTeachout/status/951538523076792320

I also appreciate this thought from a fellow HN poster: "'They say you die twice. One time when you stop breathing and a second time, a bit later on, when somebody says your name for the last time.' That was not even close to the ending of Aaron Swartz." https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11719398

Re: Aaron, 5 years later

#23

Post by peterwwillis » Sat, Jan 13, 2018, 10:26 PM UTC

Don't let your loss or grief manifest itself as guilt, because you have nothing to feel guilty about. Feel the loss, but don't blame yourself, or the victim.

And don't feel like you have to live up to the image of someone else. Don't give yourself expectations on account of someone else. Set your own goals and expectations, from a place of self-compassion. And just like a good parent should never be hard on their child for failing to complete a project, neither should you be hard on yourself.

I'm sure none of that is helpful right now. But the next time you feel pressure or guilt rising up: Gently let it go. You don't owe anyone your peace of mind.

Re: Aaron, 5 years later

#24

Post by [deleted] » Sat, Jan 13, 2018, 10:34 PM UTC

[deleted]

Re: Aaron, 5 years later

#25

Post by [deleted] » Sat, Jan 13, 2018, 10:38 PM UTC

antonkm wrote: post #16

jotm wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I envy him, he had the guts to take the fast way out.

Please do not be so insensitive on HN, or in other forums. This is an actual person that took his life and you never know who ends up reading your comment.

[deleted]

Re: Aaron, 5 years later

#26

Post by aplorbust » Sat, Jan 13, 2018, 10:39 PM UTC

"I convinced Google to allow me to give their USENET archives to the Internet Archive."

Thank you.

Re: Aaron, 5 years later

#27

Post by narrator » Sat, Jan 13, 2018, 10:46 PM UTC

MollyR wrote: post #2

"Information is power. But like all power, there are those who want to keep it for themselves. The world’s entire scientific and cultural heritage, published over centuries in books and journals, is increasingly being digitized and locked up by a handful of private corporations." - Aaron I think about his quote quite a bit lately. I wonder what he would have thought about modern facebook, google, and the extreme cons…

The Egyptian and Babylonian religions of antiquity were dedicated to maintaining the status quo and they did so for centuries. They did this by carefully guarding who was allowed to have access to sacred knowledge to control who had power in their hierarchical societies.

Those with access to specialized knowledge had to be limited in number and properly initiated. Unfortunately, it seems like this pattern of social organization in which knowledge is jelously guarded and only available to the vetted privileged few is a very durable pattern in the organization of human civilizations.

Re: Aaron, 5 years later

#28

Post by BlytheSchuma » Sat, Jan 13, 2018, 10:55 PM UTC

pazimzadeh wrote: post #20

CydeWeys wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think Aaron would've been happy with the developments in the field of scientific publishing over the last half decade, had he been able to see them. I've specifically got Sci-Hub in mind here. Sure, it's not exactly legal, but everyone uses it regardless.

It's too bad Aaron and Alexandra Elbakyan never met. They might have made a good team.

Dang, I can't escape slash fiction even on Hackernews.

Re: Aaron, 5 years later

#29

Post by jacquesm » Sat, Jan 13, 2018, 10:58 PM UTC

sillysaurus3 wrote: post #21

jacquesm wrote: post #6

Hard to respond to this. Hard to believe it has already been five years. Thank you for writing that, not a week goes by that I don't see your brothers hand in something I'm using or that I read about. The whole open access movement and what has been achieved in those five years would have made Aaron both very happy and would have probably had him bouncing off the walls because 'it goes so slow'. Very few people appea…

We should also celebrate people's flaws. There's no such thing as an entirely good person. Aaron had mental issues. But those same issues were what gave him strength, because they were a part of him. If you took them away, Aaron wouldn't be Aaron. If we celebrate people's flaws, maybe people won't feel like they're not allowed to have flaws. And maybe that might help people who feel like ending it. https://news.ycomb…

Mental issues are flaws but they don't make a person bad in my book.

Re: Aaron, 5 years later

#30

Post by aaron-lebo » Sat, Jan 13, 2018, 11:04 PM UTC

narrator wrote: post #27

MollyR wrote: post #2

"Information is power. But like all power, there are those who want to keep it for themselves. The world’s entire scientific and cultural heritage, published over centuries in books and journals, is increasingly being digitized and locked up by a handful of private corporations." - Aaron I think about his quote quite a bit lately. I wonder what he would have thought about modern facebook, google, and the extreme cons…

The Egyptian and Babylonian religions of antiquity were dedicated to maintaining the status quo and they did so for centuries. They did this by carefully guarding who was allowed to have access to sacred knowledge to control who had power in their hierarchical societies. Those with access to specialized knowledge had to be limited in number and properly initiated. Unfortunately, it seems like this pattern of social o…

That comparison only holds if you consider those attending cheap state school on student loans as "the vetted privileged few".

Not to mention, even at the state schools, we just download the PDFs off Google Scholar because searching the databases is annoying. Nothings's really changed other than rhetoric.