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Aaron, 5 years later

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Re: Aaron, 5 years later

#71

Post by alelefant »

firasd wrote: post #22

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…

The quote about death seems very similar to David Eagleman's book "Forty Tales from the Afterlives".

Here's an excerpt that you might find interesting: http://www.eagleman.com/sum/excerpt

Re: Aaron, 5 years later

#72

Post by wickawic »

alelefant wrote: post #71
firasd wrote: post #22

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…

The quote about death seems very similar to David Eagleman's book "Forty Tales from the Afterlives". Here's an excerpt that you might find interesting: http://www.eagleman.com/sum/excerpt

It is also a way of thinking about death prevalent in Jewish culture.

Re: Aaron, 5 years later

#73

Post by SwellJoe »

CydeWeys wrote: post #7
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…

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.

I think Aaron had more than a little to do with those changes. I'm certain he inspired many within the academic world to think about where and how they published in ways they may not have in the past and helped trigger the pushback from public organizations that sponsor research in recent years. And, there have been numerous technical runs at the problem that were very likely inspired by Aaron's work.

It's getting better, but not by accident. People like Aaron made it get better.

Re: Aaron, 5 years later

#74

Post by vardump »

ilamont wrote: post #58

Ortiz continued to pursue the case, comparing Swartz’s transgression to that of a common thief. The lead prosecutor on the case, Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen Heymann, compared Swartz to a rapist who had “revictimized” MIT by not taking a plea bargain, according to a later MIT investigation. Heymann was also bothered that Swartz launched a “wild Internet campaign” in his own defense. (He had not done so.) https://w…

I hope Carmen Ortiz will one day be held responsible for her actions.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carmen_Ortiz#Prosecution_of_Aa...

Re: Aaron, 5 years later

#75

Post by 0xBA5ED »

nicklaf wrote: post #70
0xBA5ED wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sorry, but then nothing is a choice. This may technically be true, but it's no way to think.

If you guys are interested in going down that rabbit hole, I highly recommend Robert Sapolsky's Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst . Although I confess I have only read the first chapter or so, the book sets out to convince its readers that many of the things that can go wrong in the human brain ought not to be thought of as bad choices so much as automobiles in need of a part replacement (this metap…

Now we’re completely off topic, but I want to reply to this :)

I think of it like this. Perhaps every decision you make is /almost/ entirely determined by your current biological state and a long string of preconditions beyond your control. But… there is a sliver of freewill on top of this. And /with/ that sliver, you can choose to make incremental changes to your personal beliefs which molds your perception. By doing this, you essentially alter your biological state in a small way. This effect is cumulative, so you eventually start making different decisions than you would have, which changes your environment, and thus further changes the preconditions of your future. In this way, I believe freewill itself is cumulative. You are born with almost none, but you can develop it incrementally with effort.

Re: Aaron, 5 years later

#77

Post by aplorbust »

a3_nm wrote: post #33
aplorbust wrote: post #26

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

I also thought this was interesting, but I don't see what this is referring to. Google has bought the DejaNews archive https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Groups and I haven't find any reference of the fact that they would have given it to Internet Archive, neither on the wikipedia article nor on places where it could have been mentioned like https://www.archiveteam.org/index.php/Usenet or https://archive.org/detail…

https://archive.is/PUk3 http://web.archive.org/web/20110110080509/http://www.skrenta... <--- This is the collection I am most interested in. 1981-1991. Thankfully, one does not need Google to get it.

Re: Aaron, 5 years later

#78

Post by Nooseofaaron »

jacquesm wrote: post #45
sillysaurus3 wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mm, yes and no. It's one of those things where if you reveal you have them, you feel like less of a person. People look at you differently. Be honest: If you were in a position of authority, would you place someone with known suicidal tendencies in a position of power? What if things went very badly? How about someone with outbursts of anger, or serious sleep issues that prevent them from showing up to work on time?…

> Aaron had some political aspirations, and a felony conviction would've precluded him from running for certain offices. Maybe that, combined with his internal issues, may have made him feel like less of a person. I don't know. If you don't know then don't speculate.

Fuck off cunt. Stop hindering curiosity even if it is speculation

Re: Aaron, 5 years later

#79

Post by Nooseofaaron »

sillysaurus3 wrote: post #56
chris_wot wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree.

He felt something, near the end. Put yourself in his shoes. Speculation is all we can do, if we're serious about trying to prevent this in the future. Giving people an outlet is important. The people who reached out to me often felt cornered, for one reason or another. Isn't it reasonable to suppose Aaron felt the similarly? If people feel like they're allowed to open up about their issues, it can really do some good…

That is a straight up fucking lie. This community is so adorable.

Re: Aaron, 5 years later

#80

Post by DanBC »

sillysaurus3 wrote: post #56
chris_wot wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree.

He felt something, near the end. Put yourself in his shoes. Speculation is all we can do, if we're serious about trying to prevent this in the future. Giving people an outlet is important. The people who reached out to me often felt cornered, for one reason or another. Isn't it reasonable to suppose Aaron felt the similarly? If people feel like they're allowed to open up about their issues, it can really do some good…

> Speculation is all we can do, if we're serious about trying to prevent this in the future.

No no, if you want to prevent suicide you should avoid specualting on what went on in a person's mind.

Suicide is a complex phenomena, and it's wrong to boil it down to one or two things.

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