Post 9k18IfYpO5S4PCDdg0 by bob@soc.freedombone.net
(DIR) More posts by bob@soc.freedombone.net
(DIR) Post #9k18IfYpO5S4PCDdg0 by bob@soc.freedombone.net
2019-06-19T21:19:08.093347Z
1 likes, 1 repeats
This was never really true. I know that memory fades easily, but not that long ago we had the whole Snowden thing and before that Wikileaks. A bunch of devs did a bunch of things for explicitly political reasons and made corresponding decisions in line with their beliefs.GPG. I know it's hated and even renounced by its original developer but it's still core infrastructure for a lot of operating systems. Invented with political aims for political reasons. Tor also.There are many other examples but these are just the most obvious.
(DIR) Post #9k18Ifj6lrfuv51qhU by frickhaditcoming@anticapitalist.party
2019-06-19T21:20:26Z
2 likes, 1 repeats
@bob free software literally came up to oppose capitalism...
(DIR) Post #9k18JOY080WpvfB78S by bob@soc.freedombone.net
2019-06-19T21:22:24.962587Z
2 likes, 0 repeats
@frickhaditcoming Not entirely, but maybe in part. The original GNU manifesto isn't highly anticapitalist, although I think it does mention capitalism as a problem.
(DIR) Post #9k18JWBFkT5NbQb3my by frickhaditcoming@anticapitalist.party
2019-06-19T21:23:12Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
@bob ok it was a response to capitalism
(DIR) Post #9k18JzgS3YGz6aPswa by carcinopithecus@x0r.be
2019-06-19T21:24:35Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
@bob what i recall of the manifesto isn't even anti-capitalist, just anti-rent-seeking (unless one's definition of capitalism included that as an essential feature)
(DIR) Post #9k18Kg2YZkuWTJ58EK by bob@soc.freedombone.net
2019-06-19T21:28:19.984319Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
@carcinopithecus It's a while since I read it, but if I put my Stallman platter hat on at a rakish angle I expect he would say that GNU was not anticapitalist because the questions of price and profit were always secondary issues and that the freedom to share software was foremost.
(DIR) Post #9k18LlDApoDIndZ3a4 by nergalur@mastodon.technology
2019-06-19T21:23:19Z
1 likes, 1 repeats
@frickhaditcoming @bob The most frustrating part about that is how the very free software movement that created the software didn't understand that and sees no incompatibility between FOSS and capitalism. Still exists today but not as much
(DIR) Post #9k18MaaJpW1y8BmlEm by frickhaditcoming@anticapitalist.party
2019-06-19T21:24:19Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
@nergalur @bob you can thank the OSI and ESR for that
(DIR) Post #9k18N7eisAA4hP6FBQ by nergalur@mastodon.technology
2019-06-19T21:28:00Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@frickhaditcoming @bob I know lol, I've done some digging. But to me it reflects the difference between the days when an individual Dev could code an entire project by themselves because the ability to understand a whole system was more possible than today. Now that tech is more complex it requires a collective workforce to maintain, and by extension fight for politically.When we see some tech organizing in full swing I think we'll see a rebirth in FOSS
(DIR) Post #9k18N7pMEcfVEO4jlA by frickhaditcoming@anticapitalist.party
2019-06-19T21:30:41Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
@nergalur @bob 1 big IT Union please
(DIR) Post #9k1V4sb0QN1zizdCWu by erosdiscordia@radical.town
2019-06-19T21:21:53Z
1 likes, 2 repeats
@bob this idea that there is some intrinsically apolitical profession or field just...needs to go. So does the idea that "politics" is just meaningless and petty football being played by one's betters. That's what they want us to think. Politics is everywhere, and that's a GOOD thing. It means the power to do better is everywhere, too.
(DIR) Post #9k1uO6tly9FMRKfyIS by ailurocrat@scicomm.xyz
2019-06-19T21:27:32Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
@nergalur @frickhaditcoming @bob the whole problem with everything today is there is a strong incompatibility between freedom and capitalism, whether talking about free software or any other freedom... Unfortunately some are still asleep on this issue...
(DIR) Post #9k1vPsy4pk5Tlh6ExU by wilbr@glitch.social
2019-06-19T21:43:14Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@bob in a world where tools are also weapons, being a toolmaker is intrinsically political.If a pitchfork-maker knew that Nazis were buying their pitchforks to terrorize their neighbors, would a moral person not think about what they could do to stop that?Heroes are not born, heroes rarely choose to get into the uncomfortable position they now find themselves. Heroes are regular people who, faced with impossible choices, still do the right thing.
(DIR) Post #9k1vPtA86vjEN4jrkG by wilbr@glitch.social
2019-06-19T21:45:55Z
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@bob I think a heroic pitchfork-maker who is against pitchfork-bearing Nazis would indeed, among other things, start making pitchforks that worked well for tossing hay but worked poorly for terrorizing people. And he might be criticized for that choice ("this pitchfork is substandard! It's lightweight, it's dull, and it doesn't penetrate haybales as effectively!"), but I think it'd probably be the right one.
(DIR) Post #9k1vPtPjAwCn9S2K3c by Wolf480pl@niu.moe
2019-06-20T06:46:59Z
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@wilbr @bob I think that a pitchfork maker is in no way responsible for what people do with pitchforks.I also think this isn't a very good example. A better one would be a screwdriver maker. Screwdrivers can be used for all kinds of good things, such as repairing broken devices. But they can also be used to mess with other people's devices, including electronic door locks and intrusion alarms, which is obviously useful to thieves.Now should the screwdriver maker choose to stop making a certain type of screwdriver to prevent people (including thieves) from opening certain type of devices? I don't think so.
(DIR) Post #9k1y3hY2uZNPqG2N1s by wilbr@glitch.social
2019-06-20T07:16:47Z
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@Wolf480pl @bob I'm a metaphor aficionado and I stand by my analogy. I understand why you want to argue that social media is a screwdriver, but it's pretty damn hard to harm someone with a screwdriver and it's pretty damn easy to harm someone with social media.Screwdrivers are tools that make more tools. JavaScript would be a screwdriver. Mastodon is a car and we're debating mandatory collision-avoidance systems.
(DIR) Post #9k1y7dmgqa4TKKlVjM by Wolf480pl@niu.moe
2019-06-20T07:17:30Z
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@wilbr @bob >mandatory collision avoidance systemlike "I'm sorry Dave, I can't let you do that"?What could possibly go wrong...
(DIR) Post #9k1yAc7dU29h2ZypvM by Wolf480pl@niu.moe
2019-06-20T07:18:02Z
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@wilbr @bob also, I think it's not that hard to hurt someone with a screwdriver, especially if you aim for the eyes.
(DIR) Post #9k2MXT4zfRtoYWAuNU by Wolf480pl@niu.moe
2019-06-20T11:51:05Z
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@wilbr @bob Or a bit less sarcastically:In case of physical cars, there are multiple reasons why a mandatory non-overridable collision avoidance system would do more harm than good. If you don't know why, type "boeing 737 max" into your favourite search engine.But what would a mandatory collision avoidance system need to look like in the socnet land to have all those issues? I think it'd need to be sth like a machine learning algorithm that decides whether a post is harassment or not, and make it prevent users from sending harassing posts.But nobody is trying to make such a thing, right?What we've seen a developer do is blacklist two domains, which is IMO more like adding a blacklist of streets on which the car's engine won't start, so that the horrible people living on those streets won't be able to use it.
(DIR) Post #9k2ief0rtaQkaM51qi by wilbr@glitch.social
2019-06-20T15:58:52Z
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@Wolf480pl @bob for a screwdriver analogy all I can think is perhaps designing your tanks with torx screws so that your screwdrivers don't work on German tanks, but it's an even less perfect analogy.Separately, I think bullet caliber might work this way somewhat intentionally. There's a number of sizes that cluster around the same essential size but different enough that it'd be dangerous to mix & match.
(DIR) Post #9k2jG1Yd2RYvDjgh0q by Wolf480pl@niu.moe
2019-06-20T16:05:39Z
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@wilbr @bob anyway, I think you're right that the screwdriver analogy is not a good fit for a socnet