Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by tessi3r 2763 days ago
I honestly believe that in this day and age Richard Stallman's way of viewing computing is haplessly out of touch and no longer relevant.

I say this as someone who saw him talk to my cambridge / boston area university's ACM group, afterwords he bummed a ride from my friend back to MIT. He dismissed most questions from students and while we were riding back in my friend's car (with Richard Stallman in the front seat) he basically didn't answer any questions and just argued semantics.

I love Richard Stallman and what he stands for, but I think we need to re-evaluate how we digest and understand his opinions on computing in current times.
2 comments
akhilcacharya 2763 days ago
> cambridge / boston area university

Is this a long winded way of saying “Harvard”?

link
tessi3r 2763 days ago
Slow clap...
link
metildaa 2763 days ago
Apparently the Harvard Scandals and high incidents of rape on campus are finally catching up with Harvard, nevermind the awful things its alumni have done: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/10/fashion/harvard-scandal-a...
link
tessi3r 2762 days ago
Why is this relevant in any context to this thread? Congratulations - you are now on a high horse made of marble.
link
metildaa 2762 days ago
OP inferred they went to Harvard.
link
akhilcacharya 2763 days ago
I hope y’all realize this doesn’t make you look more humble, and in fact does the opposite.
link
tessi3r 2762 days ago
I didn't go to Harvard.

Slower clap...

link
zzzzzzzza 2763 days ago
why is that? what makes something relevant? I think just the opposite - it's increasingly relevant, even though I don't follow his ethical system.

how is your single conversation with him relevant? It doesn't seem relevant at all, sample size of 1... maybe it would be if you bothered to tell us what he dismissed.

This last part seems disingenuous, but how so?

I'll grant you this: he hasn't said much that's new and also of interest in the past 10 or 20 years probably. But his past thinking is still extremely relevant.

link
tessi3r 2763 days ago
His solution to "not using Uber because it's a security nightmare" was literally to bum a ride from someone in the audience who happened to be my friend.

He also had this hilarious policy / agreement with ACM to have some kid giving him a new glass of tea every 1.4 minutes or something. It was petty and weird.

link
jstewartmobile 2763 days ago
How does being weird make his views on computing irrelevant?
link