thowaway673y

Exactly

> instead he crafted ideas that had power

The emphasis is on the idea rather than the individual.

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.

That's the point, GeoHotz is not a average human. This is not about law its about the capability of GeoHotz.

RMS is no normal human, he can match with 5 or 6 100x programmers from symbolic company which they have admitted.

Also don't forget he was just 16 at the time and most importantly got the balls to live code when he has so much to lose.