Richard Stallman's lifestyle | Hacker News Reader

Richard Stallman's lifestyle

stallman.org

41 pointschauhankiran16 comments

While I don't agree with many of his ideas, it's admirable that someone is so adamant about following his ideas and not making compromises.

I strongly agree on his views about not having children though: https://stallman.org/articles/children.html

At what cost?

If he didn't follow these artificial principles he would be much more widely known, spreading his message further and possibly making a difference in the fields he believes in most outside the tiny world of his closest research peers.

Instead, he's the equivalent of a digital hermit with a window due to his "no touch" views on privacy.

Everything he's done hints at a predilection towards severe risk aversion. And, in my opinion, it has hurt the world when we needed him the most.

I think it's really the proper duty of everyone who understands to help protect intellectual freedoms. We don't need a popular cult of personality to make it work. His writings from 30 years ago are very relevant and prophetic even today, but like Ayn Rand people conflate the personality with the idea, an idea which stands on it's own merit when you separate it from Stallman. However he is amusingly charismatic, my entire family still remembers him from an FSF picnic roughly 20 years ago. Thankfully his publicist intercepted my wife before he could really get into it, but my daughter (who was 3-4 at the time) still vividly recalls his explanation of why he couldn't swim under water (might forget to how to breathe upon surfacing). Also my family paid me the highest compliment by afterwards describing Stallman as being "just like daddy"...

> If he didn't follow these artificial principles he would be much more widely known

Aren't all principles artificial?

He could (maybe) be more valuable to society by making compromises but OTOH I doubt an idealistic person is driven by such motivations. Artists aren't motivated by being of value either and I doubt anybody would think that Picasso should have lived in any other way.

It's interesting how many of these things come at the expense of others: he's not OK being tracked at stores, or on phones, but is OK enabling others to be tracked. He'll exasperate colleagues if it helps him learn a language more conveniently.

The "c...rap" thing is also not a good look.

I too dislike rap music. Why so aggressive? Why so angry? I'll pass on that.

Not all rap is angry and aggressive, just like not all rock is heavy metal. It's a global musical genre which can vary greatly in theme, tone and context. But the rap that is aggressive and angry is likely an expression of a culture that probably just doesn't apply to you. That doesn't make it bad, it just makes that particular subgenre of rap not for you.

You may like some of these other examples of rap:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yf9OAFML_Eg (Deltron 3030 - Mastermind)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-9uhUBKah8 (Sage Francis - Escape Artist)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEBGCOCxLgA (Aesop Rock - None Shall Pass)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QljRe99OMCU (EUNG FREESTYLE (응프리스타일) - LIVE, SIK-K, PUNCHNELLO, OWEN OVADOZ, FLOWSIK)

Cool tunes, thanks for linking.

I respect anyone who has deeply thought out their life and personal philosophy enough to write up such an article. I don't agree with everything he says (some of it is absolute nonsense to me), but that is exactly what makes it so compelling -- So many people don't take the time to step back and make conscious decisions about how they live heir lives, so it is refreshing to hear from someone who does.

I read this article[1] a while ago and it seems he has a lot of time on his hands. It's very hard to come across a piece of tech that isn't proprietary, yet Stallman has a workaround in such cases(like how he accesses web pages from his machine). Is there anyone else who uses methods similar to those mentioned in the article?

[1] https://stallman.org/stallman-computing.html

He could buy a burner cell phone, and not ask people to use their phones like a complete douchebag.

Burner phones need a SIM card, most countries' pre-paid cards require an ID on purchase.

I like how he calls rap c...rap. Such a brilliant mind.

I broke at ‘not smiling in photos’.

Hey, that's my stance as well! I'm from Eastern Europe and I don't think it was customary here until very recently (now things are changing as we become Americanized...) to smile in photographs. I too prefer to not create a fake, infantilized version of reality for the photo. For me, it's part of the American obsession/oppression of having to hide your real feelings and pretending to be happy and successful at all times.

I'm pretty sure his favourite text editor is emacs.

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