drones run linux: the free software movement isn't enough
2022-09-16


                  a printer,  a lab,  and  an actual hobbit
                           with an insane dream
                
richard stallman. rms. if you've spent time in tech, you may know his name. in
popular tabloid culture, he's painted as a sexist pedo - in 4chan-esque dungeons,
he's heralded as a savior.

in reality, he's a very flawed human that discovered something most of us never will.
a single cause to commit the rest of his entire life to.

rms has led the free software movement for 40 years. his asset is his flaw. he is
stubborn. extremely stubborn. absolutely unwilling to deviate, admit fault, change,
or back down. a staunch revolutionary on a blazing battleground. the world will see
free software as a moral right, and he will die fighting, no matter what anyone says.



                     snakes in the hobbits den

but stallman is an old man now. the world moved on without him. he beats the same
war drum, but nobody is listening. groups of capital formed, and two libertarians
started the open source movement[1] as a corporate-friendly free software alternative.

   and they won.

and won. and won. and won and won and fucking won. the accidental benefits of the
free software movement: a global community working asynchronously, sharing
code without pay. these important, critical benefits, which were responsible for
the absolute dominance of things like gcc, the gnu coreutils, and linux - have
been hopelessly devoured. all they had to do was strip away the pesky moral movement
that all of these efficiency gains carried with it - and voila. money.

most people who make open source software have probably never heard of stallman or the
free software movement.

all that remains is bootcamps, github, obscured javascript, and companies
trying to save as much money as possible by paying _nobody_ to produce the software
that they make millions from. and why not? it's free.

i believe that the free software movement is over, and that it has been over for years.
all that remains are a few men with grey beards, tattered war drums, and a long line
of allegations.

at the end of the day, the free software movement was colonized. and we tried to save it.

                             and god. we tried.



            i thought i heard a plane, crashing
                      but now i think it was your passion snapping

using non-free software is not a personal failing.  we only have so much time,
and it tick-tick-ticks.

nobody wants to use 10 year old thinkpads that can barely manage a youtube video.
why should my grandma learn about linux? i bought her an ipad, and she understands it.
her eyes are going. linux is not accessible. she's happier and more connected to her
family because of it.

i refused to use discord for years - but instead of furthering freedom, i hurt myself.
the severence of many meaningful relationships. most of my old friends simply moved on
without me. if you don't have vocal chords, people forget that you exist.

you might say they probably weren't real friends if they forgot about me so easily.
but they were real to me. try it yourself, and see what happens.

ultimately, my stubborn resistance made no difference.

most people don't care about the free software movement. the benefits
are vague, and the consequences are life-changing.
you lose touch with friends and family.
it takes a lot more time and energy navigating. banking. finding
restaurants or activities, looking at things to buy.
tracking your calendar. doing your taxes.
living.

eventually, you will realize that it's not worth it. you'll start using
software that enhances your life, and you'll question whether all of this
denial was worth it.

i cancelled my FSF membership, after 10 years of faithful support.



all of that fighting
all of that denial, resisting temptation.
war drums, freedom,
coding, sharing,
friends, love,

   after all of that,

        after everything,



                     predator drones
                 .-.    _,  .-.  ,_    .-.
                '-._'--'  \_| |_/  '--'_.-'
                    '-._  \ | | /  _.-'
                        `-.^| |^.-'
                           `\=/`
                             `
                            run linux












              the next era of community computing

it's not just woe and misery forever. in the middle of my dispair, i found
something really remarkable. neon lights, and shared drinks, dancing, food,
surprise, cleverness, and love. in the middle of my pain, i found something
worth fighting for.

i don't know what comes after free software.
but i think i can see it's skeleton.

a huge, powerful creature is growing - and free software is just one of its
many organs.

a creature of caring, and community. of playfulness, and kindness, and sharing.
mutual aid, and respect. of building for one another. a creature that values
teaching, spirit, and morality. a creature that builds community-scale
alternatives to big, heavy, complicated, world-burning modern machinery.

a creature that values life, fun, humanity, and togetherness amid a world
that constantly tries to de-value those things.

a creature resilient to corporate takeover - because it represents everything
human about computing.

computing at human scale. permanently. re-orienting everything. forever.



                permacomputing?

this is just a hunch, but -
i suspect the next era of community computing may be called "permacomputing"

where free software attempts to ammend the existing system,
permacomputing builds a new one

where free software is pro-license,
permacomputing is pro-human

free software is absolute,
permacomputing is flexible

free software is conversion,
permacomputing is acceptance

free software is a camp,
permacomputing is a commune

free software is libertarianism,
permacomputing is community


if you have the energy, start a local computing group. one centered around playful
hacking, kindness, and acceptance. see what happens.

you might find that it gives our hollow earth just a little bit of meaning.



                credits
            <3    <3    <3
 
i have been thinking about this for a _long_ time.

this is my love letter to all of the people and projects
that i believe embody the permacomputing spirit.

here you are.

rekka bellum and devine lu linvega:
for living, sharing, and believing with absolute ferocity
for being fearless.
https://100r.co/site/home.html

forest johnson:
for seeing the best in everybody. for driving towards
a better world with such intent and fire. for opening
up his entire soul. a font of endless spirit.
https://sequentialread.com/

drew devault:
for building a company with stern morality. for speaking up.
for never giving up. for leading.
https://drewdevault.com/

f0x:
for listening closely and honestly, for committing so much
of their life to everyone's safety.
https://cthu.lu/

joe nelson:
for taking active interest, for listening, for inspiring, and
for ideating.
https://begriffs.com/

herman martinus
for sharing your life and work with such honesty
https://herman.bearblog.dev/

gabe kangas
for passionately building a workable, friendly alternative
to one of the most hostile projects on the planet
https://gabekangas.com/

jesse li
for thinking hard about why software is philisophical. for not
giving into contempt.
https://blog.jse.li/

derek sivers:
for inspiring, and talking to me.
https://sive.rs/

ckie:
for being playful and curious, and emailing me when i was in the
middle of some very hard times.
https://ckie.dev

reese:
for diving in head-first and selflessly giving his
energy.
https://reese.ovine.xyz/

vvesley:
for kind listening, caring speech, and a compassionate spirit
vim budz
https://www.vvesley.me/

starless:
for seeing my vision, caring relentlessly, and helping to build
so much.

and obviously, everyone in cyberia.club and layer zero:
zico, aimless, carbide, sanine, fack, freekurt,
queerposting, hemant, christorson, karlexceed,
nyaoori, techieb0y, jeremyrand, aynish,
symys, bavier, louisg -


you are all revolutionaries.




[1]: https://opensource.org/history