Hacker News Reader

Comment by thowaway673y | Hacker News Reader

Your comments gives the impression anyone could have substituted RMS place in history. I want to point out that this is not the case. RMS is unique in at least 2 ways. One his intellect stands out even among the 100x programmers. Second willing to sacrifice his personal life for a cause he believes in. Its very rare both intersect. You can see either Einstein level geniuses or Activists who sacrifice their personal life. RMS is an intersection of both. The only other person I can think of is Aaron Swartz.

View on HN

That’s interesting that you came away with the impression that Stallman is replaceable from my comment given my comment states in literal terms that Stallman crafted an idea that changed the world. What specific part of my comment gave you the impression that he’s replaceable?

> What specific part of my comment gave you the impression that he’s replaceable?

I think but obviously can't confirm it might have been this bit:

> ... at least Stallman comes to mind as an example of someone who was able to change the course of history *without much personal power, instead he crafted ideas that had power.*

To me this might be construed as Stallman could be replaced by anyone, since he had little personal power and only crafted ideas; anyone could craft ideas.

I might be wrong though but that would be my guess

Exactly

> instead he crafted ideas that had power

The emphasis is on the idea rather than the individual.

This the most HN discussion I've ever seen on HN

I know, it's basically an argument about whether RMS is a god or merely a prophet.

Nowhere in this thread is there an argument or dispute over Stallman’s status.

i can dispute that with this blog i archived somewhere in 2004 about this very matter: link.com/blog/what-the-world-got-wrong-about-me/

What did Aaron Schwartz do to justify being placed on the same level of genius as RMS?

Reply on news.ycombinator.com