Slashdot Mirror
Aaron Swartz Commits Suicide
maijc writes
"Computer activist Aaron Swartz committed suicide yesterday in New York City. He was 26 years old. Swartz was 'indicted in July 2011 by a federal grand jury for allegedly mass downloading documents from the JSTOR online journal archive with the intent to distribute them.' He is best known for co-authoring the widely-used RSS 1.0 specification when he was 14, and as one of the early co-owners of Reddit."
Freedom is a measure of how many options are available to you. If you are dead, you have literally zero freedom.
Without context this is just another sad story.
If he committed suicide because the government/JSTOR ruined his life then over what was claimed to be "trumped up charges" then this is a story that needs some action. But if this was because his girlfriend dumped him or some other personal reason, then this will fade into the background wand wont have the same impact.
Still it's sad to see that one of our esteemed contributes to society has been lost.
Imagine yourself stuck in a case where you are facing 30+ years for putting up documents online, then the organization saying "Haha! Nevermind, we were going to put everything out in public domain anyway!" (typical PR?) and still be trapped in it.
Very said. I met him once at an ArsDigita event when he was around 14. I was surprised to find that the posts I had been reading came from someone so young. He was a very smart guy and he made a lot of waves. I am sad to see him go.
Coding Blog
Half of all deaths are assigned to the wrong cause.
And I would not be one bit surprised, if it turns out to be murder for lack of evidence in trial.
I know of similar stuff that happened to colleagues of close relatives, who were willing to give away government secrets. (And government secrets are secret *exactly* because you would not like that which is secret.)
Shot in the head by snipers from buildings... at the moment they left the airport of the 3rd world country they fled to, and nobody giving a shit about it. After threatening his whole family.
Yes, the great United States of America's CIA does stuff like that.
Worst of all, you'll probably mod me down because you can't accept it. (I don't blame you. I blame the propaganda machine.)
According to that definition, you are more free in a totalitarian dictatorship than in a democracy: In the totalitarian dictatorship you are free from the need to make decisions and you are free from having to form your own opinion.
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
"you can't have any pleasure when you are dead, therefore, you have no freedom when dead."
otoh, the opposite is also true:
"you can't have any pain when you are dead; therefore, you have total freedom from pain and suffering."
death is absence of EVERYTHING. you are not free or a slave. you have left both 'sides' and you now are not part of anything.
ie, you walk away from both the positive and negative.
people who end their lives are trying to remove the bad parts of their lives and the good parts are not enough of a balance to convince them 'stay here'.
I think its just that 'simple'. when your life is filed with pain and you want to end the pain, suicide does seem to be a way out of it.
--
"It is now safe to switch off your computer."
Indeed, suicidal people have some of the most hilarious death humor of anyone.
In fact, that's one simple way to determine if someone is seriously suicidal, or just doing it for the attention. Make a joke about death and suicide, and if they don't laugh, they're probably just doing it for the attention.
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
Here's a word from another friend of Aaron: http://lessig.tumblr.com/post/40347463044/prosecutor-as-bully
Semantics is the gravity of abstraction
Imagine yourself stuck in a case where you are facing 30+ years
I don't fucking need to "imagine" it, you fucking pussy.
I have BEEN in a similar situation.
I once faced 16 years' imprisonment for some trumped-up charges that
might have stuck if I had gone to trial. So like most other people who get
in trouble in the United States on the federal level, I copped a plea with the
agreement that my sentence would be limited to far less prison time.
In the end I served 30 months in federal prison. It was easy time, and I was
in a medium security facility. I cannot say it was pleasant, but it was not even
close to being a scenario in which I could have been the victim of homosexual rape
or any of the other awful things idiots on Slashdot speculate about when they imagine
prison. The truth is that I had a lot of time to relax, I read many excellent books, and
I ate quite well ( food in fed prisons is actually pretty damned good, it is the food in
state prisons which sucks ).
So, what if I had responded to the prosecutor's BULLSHIT attempts to scare me
and killed myself ? I'd be dead. Instead, today I am going to enjoy a nice motorcycle
ride and give my cat a lot of love, and eat a wonderful meal later on. Life has ups
and downs, and there WILL be dark days for all of us, sooner or later. If you let
a dark day push you into committing suicide, you will have failed yourself.
Instead of being dead, I can honestly say that prison was a growth experience
for me and that I am today happier than I have ever been.
NEVER EVER GIVE UP, no matter what some bastard is doing to you.
If my story is not powerful enough for you, look up the story of Primo Levi.
That story will be enough to leave a permanent imprint on your brain, I
assure you.
Been there too. Faced 1024 years. Copped a plea for 4 and the judge made it 6. All fed camper time. I lived through it and might just be better for it. Served time with Boesky and Milken (not charges related to them, I was a phracker.)
10780-074
-- I have a private email server in my basement.