[liberationtech] Transcript of Richard Stallman's Lecture on Oct 19
----- Forwarded message from Yosem Companys <companys@stanford.edu> -----
That is a thoughtful summary of the threats and not so good a list of what to do about them, except, whoa now, to support GNU and its ilk -- damn fundraising for freedom movements has become obnoxious, indeed not altogether different from the enemies' advanced persistent threats now being rolled out as the justification for funding and recruiting the best and brightest cyber warrior brothers and sisters. There is a movement these days to warn about threats without a convincing response to them except to urge support after a smooth spiel. Maybe that is the tits and ass display of threat warnings. Tits and ass-like threats -- against the populace, against nations, against beliefs -- have long been a means to drive the people this way and that, such that a botoxed driver is required guide the balloon. Stallman aptly warns of system operators -- technocrats, priests, coders, cops, spies -- being the drivers of the mechanism whether free or paid. His advice to learn how to drive yourself appears wise except it presumes there is a machine to drive. Agnosticism might work also: avoid the established mechanisms. Atheism perhaps best: avoid mechanisms, gov, mil, com, edu, org, net, OS. Too late to forego the narcotizing devices and markets and webs and nets, which includes paper books due to the infrastructure needed to produce and distribute them as if liberating cellphones. Alternatives to free and paid narcotics their drug pushers exist.
participants (2)
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Eugen Leitl
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John Young