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Richard Stallman reveals he has cancer in the GNU 40 Hacker Meeting talk [video]

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Re: Richard Stallman reveals he has cancer in the GNU 40 Hacker Meeting talk [video]

#481

Post by MisterBastahrd »

borbulon wrote: post #333
jraph wrote: post #181

Here he is, 70, under chemo, giving a speech. He keeps being a force of nature. May he recover well, or at least have long enjoyable years ahead. He has/had arguable/unacceptable behavior, but I believe we strongly owe him. He has built incredible software, defined important stuff and kicked our asses in the right direction.

Having cancer myself, I can tell you that there are a lot of misconceptions about what life “under chemo” is like. I’m in a clinical trial for pills now, but when I was doing infusions, the worst of them had me out of commission for about 4 days - chemo day (which was about schedule, not side effects), then days 4, 5, and sometimes 6 after chemo day. The rest were completely manageable, in fact I looked forward to wo…

I have a friend who has been suffering from blood cancer for about 7 years now. Her father died around the time she was diagnosed and she was a 25 year post office employee, so she was able to retire with an inheritance and live her life. She's spent more time on ships on vacation this year than the total vacation time I've taken in my 40+ years on this planet including childhood trips.

Re: Richard Stallman reveals he has cancer in the GNU 40 Hacker Meeting talk [video]

#482

Post by Gigachad »

pelagicAustral wrote: post #441
jraph wrote: post #415

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think there are two different things: - the MIT mailing list discussion of a few years ago where he got a lot of flakes for what I indeed believe was a lot of misunderstanding. He seemed reasonable to me, but you really need subtle and careful reading to notice this. It was easy to misread and understand the contrary of was he thinks. I think he should have refrained from participating in this discussion though. Wh…

> He is very clever, I can't imagine he would be unable to learn what patterns to avoid I've worked with some very clever people in the past, and many of them are indeed no longer around (in the industry) because of their flabbergasting capacity to not pick up on 'patterns' that would save them from social assassination.

That's just autism

Re: Richard Stallman reveals he has cancer in the GNU 40 Hacker Meeting talk [video]

#483

Post by kiba »

dEnigma wrote: post #346
newscracker wrote: post #270

I hope he’s able to manage it well (since the prognosis is good) and is around for a lot longer. We need absolutists like him who go to extremes and are known widely. For a few moments, leave aside his personality and what people have said about his behavior or hygiene. If he hadn’t been there, our world would’ve been a lot different and a lot poorer. A visionary is what he was and is. While the Free part of FOSS is…

I feel similarly. While I absolutely can't and won't operate under the severe restrictions that an ideologically pure stance on software freedom ala Stallman would impose, I'm glad that there are some people, like Stallman himself, who take it to those extremes, tirelessly advocate for improvement and thus move the needle towards a better middle ground for everyone.

I don't think his position is extreme, just impractical to implement for the time being.

Time and time again showed me why free and open source software is important, but they keep lagging behind their competitors in term of funding.

Re: Richard Stallman reveals he has cancer in the GNU 40 Hacker Meeting talk [video]

#484

Post by MisterBastahrd »

borbulon wrote: post #445
tyingq wrote: post #380

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"under chemo" though, isn't some single shared experience. Everyone in that infusion room with you is getting some different sort of poison cocktail in a different strength. And most of the drugs are, quite literally, poison. There's at least 7 broad, very different types of chemo drugs, and subcategories under that. Also, very different total duration and frequencies of infusion. And they all may have other things g…

No, you're right, but the fact that Stallman is 70, and "under chemo," and still giving talks would suggest that whatever chemo he's under is relatively easy on his body.

Most chemo nowadays will make you feel sick for a day or two, but they also usually give you something to manage the symptoms. If it had been a few days since his last dosage, he was probably feeling decent all other things considered. Radiation therapy, on the other hand, is still being burned alive from the inside out, and even opioids are insufficient most of the time. My dad tried to ration my mom's painkillers during her treatments below what was prescribed for her. I told him I was going to quit my job and drive down there to keep him away from her if he wasn't going to be supportive.

Re: Richard Stallman reveals he has cancer in the GNU 40 Hacker Meeting talk [video]

#485

Post by amanaplanacanal »

ekianjo wrote: post #274
James87211 wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exercise. The single most effective thing you can do you keep your body healthy.

Nope not just that. Diet, not smoking not drinking will go a long way to reduce your risks too. And also keeping good vitamin D levels (highly correlated with lower cancer risk)

But is that because vitamin d protects against cancer, or because cancer lowers your vitamin D levels?

Or is it because people with higher vitamin D levels probably spend more time outdoors, and are getting more exercise?

I wish it was easier to figure this stuff out.

Re: Richard Stallman reveals he has cancer in the GNU 40 Hacker Meeting talk [video]

#486

Post by gcanyon »

sulam wrote: post #335
vasco wrote: post #319

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd bet there will be a blockbuster movie about this guy within 10 years of him dying and it'll be in the pop culture, and maybe even stoke a temporary privacy / freedom focus for a while in common consciousness. Unfortunately the world doesn't know how to really appreciate people as much when they're alive for some personality types.

I'll take the other side of that bet.

Agreed, but only because of the word "blockbuster," as there will be approximately zero of those within the 10 years (at least) the GP is proposing.

I don't know for sure what the movie business will look like in 10 years, but one possibility is that everyone is able to create their own movies just by describing them, and a small number will say some variant of, "Give me a biopic of this Richard Stallman guy. Base it on his wikipedia entry and whatever else you know about him. Make it factual but an action neo-noir; you know what I like. Probably starring an amalgam of Bogart and Mitchum, the rest you can just make up."

Re: Richard Stallman reveals he has cancer in the GNU 40 Hacker Meeting talk [video]

#490

Post by jraph »

Gigachad wrote: post #482
pelagicAustral wrote: post #441

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> He is very clever, I can't imagine he would be unable to learn what patterns to avoid I've worked with some very clever people in the past, and many of them are indeed no longer around (in the industry) because of their flabbergasting capacity to not pick up on 'patterns' that would save them from social assassination.

That's just autism

But autistic people are not doomed. They can learn to avoid problematic behavior. Pretty well.

As well as the rest of the population can learn about the difficulties autistic people can encounter in a mostly non-autistic setting and be more understanding / show some empathy.

It's a long way though.

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