cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/35625554

About programming and using computers as a liberating piece of magic, in a time that faces growing coercion and attempts to reduce freedoms by software and computing systems.

I'll leave you with one final message, addressed to people of all ages, whether you are younger than me, a peer, or my elder.

We don't have to take it lying down.

Next time you're feeling alone, count your allies: VideoLAN Organization, Blender Foundation, Software Freedom Conservancy, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Linux Foundation, Signal Foundation, KDE e.V., the PostgreSQL Community, the Debian Community, and so, so many more.

Just look at how eager people were to come together, even from places as far away as Greece, for the inauguration of a conference with a manifesto as simple as "software should work".

"I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo.

"So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us."

J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

The battle against Coercionware is only beginning, and we find ourselves on the frontlines whether we like it or not, because we are the ones who make computers do what they do.

But we are not alone, and computers truly are magic. Do not mistake lost ground for lost hope. We can win this thing if we collectively choose to believe it and bet on it.

Andrew Kelley also made a YouTube version, for people which prefer video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLZwpH5lCD4

On that Rene Descartes section, even the "I think, therefore, I am" bit is a stretch. If you read the treatise that's from, he very early on presupposes the existence of a divine being, and everything after that is predicated on that "fact".

Even many clergymen don't consider the existence of their god to be a fact, so I call foul on that whole body of work. Good try, Rene.