Richard Stallman (RMS) Does Not Have Media Companies and Lobbyists on His Side, But His Message Spreads Regardless
THE awards Stallman received years ago are being sold to raise money for the FSF while Stallman himself travels and sells gnus (plush toys) to raise money for the FSF. He'll be giving another talk in Europe in a few days. Politics will probably come up.
"Richard Stallman is not one of the elites or a mouthpiece for them. He doesn't want your kids dead. He thinks its best for the planet to not have kids (in general)," someone wrote some hours ago.
Stallman will probably be asked by someone about "AI"; he will probably have to explain that LLMs aren't "hey hi" (AI) but what he has instead dubbed "bullshit generators". Apropos, from just over a day ago:
"Remember people: verify everything that LLMs say, they are first-rate bullshit artists" -Ross Burton
The message of RMS is spreading in spite of all the smears. Hours ago Thexalon was commenting on a post by janrinok at SoylentNews:
1. If you don't have the source code for the software running on your machine, you don't control your machine.2. If you don't have access to accurate specs for the hardware running on your machine, you don't control your machine.
3. If you don't have the ability to run whatever code you choose on your machine, you don't control your machine.
4. If you don't control your machine, it doesn't work for you, it works for whoever does control it.
5. As computers control more of our lives, the importance of this problem increases.
Systems that are unequivocably Free Software are necessary if we want to retain any kind of hope for the future of computer systems.
At least some of the other scenarios Doctorow describes are cartels doing stuff that was made illegal during the Teddy Roosevelt administration for a reason, but they've learned how to get away with it.
Notice that it speaks of "Free Software", not "Open Source".
An associate reminds us that "you can't post your way out of fascism" and "politicians only listen to lobbyists".
He said that "RMS has made no headway. Louis Rossmann tried and failed and was laughed out of hearings until he wised up and hired lobbyists. Then progress started. The FSF needs to hire lobbyists too if they wish to even be heard let alone considered. However, as seen above the Heritage Foundation is eager for software patents."
We already know that the "Open Source" people do not object to software patents because many work for GAFAM (some without pay!) and GAFAM is hoarding such patents. Get a load of this nonsensical and lousy explanation of "Open Source" at the top, not only misframing what's at stake but also evading Software Freedom. One can say the Linux Foundation and Microsoft (controller of Linux Foundation) both bribe this site [1, 2] based on the biases, not only the occasional disclosures. RMS and others face an uphill battle because perceived truth (yes, PERCEIVED) is nowadays just some "PRODUCT". It is "ON SALE". Wikipedia too is a sellout. █