this post was submitted on 12 Jul 2024
62 points (89.7% liked)
Asklemmy
43908 readers
1349 users here now
A loosely moderated place to ask open-ended questions
Search asklemmy ๐
If your post meets the following criteria, it's welcome here!
- Open-ended question
- Not offensive: at this point, we do not have the bandwidth to moderate overtly political discussions. Assume best intent and be excellent to each other.
- Not regarding using or support for Lemmy: context, see the list of support communities and tools for finding communities below
- Not ad nauseam inducing: please make sure it is a question that would be new to most members
- An actual topic of discussion
Looking for support?
Looking for a community?
- Lemmyverse: community search
- sub.rehab: maps old subreddits to fediverse options, marks official as such
- !lemmy411@lemmy.ca: a community for finding communities
~Icon~ ~by~ ~@Double_A@discuss.tchncs.de~
founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
First, don't listen to his opinions on anything that isn't about comouters and software. He doesn't have a good track record there.
Do pay attention to his takes on technology and freedom, there's a lot of food for though there.
I was at one of his talks recently, and he's definitely and eccentric fellow. When it comes to free software he's a die hard extremist, and I have a feeling he knows and to a certain extent he does that on purpose. Case in point, he mentioned how he refused hearing aids and would similarly refuse a pacemaker as there are none running on free software.
As such, that's how I take his ideas about free software: a good philosophy taken to the extreme to showcase what'd be possible if we went all in on that, and the dangers of not doing it. Definitely not something that can work for everyone, or a realistic pathway to a world of free software.
I do think, however, that someone like him is fundamental to advance the cause of free software, even if no one takes him literally and emulates his way of life.
I'm not gonna refuse a life saving treatment or device because it runs on propriety software, but I am willing to sacrifice some convenience to use a free software alternative when available.