I hope this thread is relevant to the purposes of the forum.
I want this thread to document references of philosophies of FOSS - “freedom”, “openness” etc., - from literature, arts, cinema etc. I hope it would help in introducing newcomers to the philosophy.
The author comments on the digital surveillance. She compares the growing number of “IDs” to that of cattle being ear-tagged. I’m sure you’d relate to recent data breaches of DigiYatra etc., after reading this essay.
The book then follows up with selected chapters from two of the author’s novels - Handmaid’s Tale and Hag-Seed. These chapters focus on freedoms of the characters in those stories.
This book helped me build vocabulary of FOSS. It has good details on history and economics of FOSS movement. I found it as a very good introduction to the subject.
I’m reading the biography of John von Neumann, one of the early brains behind the modern computer. It is said that he is also the early proponent of “open source” idea.
Neumann wrote and widely circulated EDVAC report that clearly laid down the von Neumann computer architecture. It led to a patent dispute as there were other scientists who wanted to start a company and sell computers based on this design. Neumann won the trial. One of the reasons he wanted to put the EDVAC idea out was that he wanted rapid advancement in computing technology (so that he can use computers to solve many other problems of his interest).
His architecture became public knowledge and apparently many computers in 1940s-50s were designed based on it.
Of course, his reason may not be “Freedom” as we define in FOSS movement. But nevertheless, he fought the initial battle in making computing free from patenting
The Fountainhead | Goodreads offers a moral guide to anyone who identifies themselves as a creator (opensource contributor, developer). The work ethic of the protagonist, Howard Roark, is something developers can relate to. It comes close to the idea of Karma Yoga.
There is a monologue on how technology advanced in history. How great creators take something from their previous generation, add more value and send it forward. That monologue has glimpses of FOSS philosophy. Of why we say FOSS is important for technological advancement.
This book does not relate much with the FOSS Philosophy, but instead it relates more towards Tinkering. This book is a collection of Feynman exploring multiple things from the 1st page till the last page. And, I think tinkering with anything which you find interesting relates generally somewhere with the FOSS Philosophy ?
This book is a collection of chapters were Feynman seems to exploring and tinkering with newer things. I wrote a short blog reviewing it and it includes a list of my favorite chapters from the book.
My fellow
Prisoners,
Don’t be agonised,
You’ll get free soon.
**
From the treacherous Facebook,
the high walls of the Worldwide Web,
and the shackles of the conjuring screens.
…
The lures of their net,
the baits of their hooks
made you the prisoners
trapped in the data.
**
My fellow
Prisoners,
Don’t be agonised,
You’ll get free soon.
**
You’ll overcome the databanks,
cease to be the votebanks,
and freed of the digital gallows.
**
You’ve nothing to lose,
but the chains of the data,
you’ve a world to win.
Netizens of the world unite!
Extract from O Joe, My Fellow Indentured Citizen
Digitised is your individual self
solidifying your identity beyond
your material and spiritual existence.
**
Enshrined is your citizenship contract
with your electronic nation
in the digital temple’s sanctum sanctorum.
**
You are uniqued,
12-digited,
eternally nationalised.
**
Another uniqueness is bestowed upon you, like your own
aeons’ old caste to display on your sleeves.
**
O Joe, my fellow indentured citizen,
let’s go in search of bread
on the digital highways of the nation.
Some aphorisms on data:
Data is the diet par excellence
of the diabolic elections.
Like money begets money,
data breeds data.
Data greases the palms
of the ruling machine.
Your personal data
shapes your shadow
that surveils every corner of your life.
The prices of crude oil fall
as the data, the new oil of democracies surges
with mystic powers.
To graduate as a super-democracy
produce more data,
less food grains.
Imagine it as a book on Git with contributions from different authors from different regions. Not there are 300+ branches, and we choose the branch of our liking
A Stitch in Time, a story written by Himadri Das @repaircafecollectiveindia and Veena Prasad, is now featured in CBSE- and ICSE-affiliated Class 5 schoolbooks. The story is about two children, Shyam and Shrisha, who discover the joy of repairing!
Whatever we understand and enjoy in human products instantly becomes ours, wherever they might have origin. I am proud of my humanity when I can acknowledge the poets and artists of other countries as my own. Let me feel with unalloyed gladness that all the great glories of man are mine.
We can rephrase it to I am proud of my humanity when I can acknowledge the poets and artists and developers of other countries as my own
“During this trial, we will show that Project Hail Mary has overstepped its authority in the matter of digital data acquisition and licensing. They have, in their possession, a gigantic solid-state-drive array upon which they have copied literally every single piece of software that has ever been copyrighted, as well
as every single book and literary work that has ever been
available in any digital format. All of this was done without payment or licensing to the proper copyright holders or intellectual property owners. Furthermore, many of their technological designs violate patents held by—”
“Your Honor,” Stratt interrupted. “Can I make motions
now?”
“Technically,” said the justice, “but it’s irregul—”
“I move to dismiss.”
“Your Honor!” Canton protested.
“On what grounds, Ms. Stratt?” said the justice.
“Because I don’t have time for this bullshit,” she said.
“We are building a ship to literally save our species. And we have very little time to get it done. It will have three astronauts—just three—to do experiments we can’t even conceive of now.
We need them to be prepared for any possible line of study they deem necessary. So we are giving them everything. The collected knowledge of humankind, along with all software. Some of it is stupid. They probably won’t need Minesweeper for
Windows 3.1, and they probably don’t need an unabridged Sanskrit-to-English dictionary, but they’re going to have them.”
Canton shook his head. “Your Honor, my clients don’t dispute the noble nature of the Hail Mary Project. The complaint is in the illegal use of copyrighted material and patented mechanisms.”
Stratt shook her head. “It would take a ridiculous amount of time and energy to work out licensing agreements with every company. So we’re not doing it.”
“I assure you, Ms. Stratt, you will comply with the law,” said the justice.
“Only when I want to.” Stratt held up a sheet of paper.
“According to this international treaty, I am personally immune from prosecution for any crime anywhere on Earth. The United States Senate ratified that treaty two months ago.”
She held up a second piece of paper. “And to streamline
situations like this, I also have a preemptive pardon from the president of the United States for any and all crimes I am accused of within U.S. jurisdictions.”
The bailiff took the papers and handed them to the justice.
“This…” said the justice, “this is exactly what you say it is.”
“I’m only here as a courtesy,” said Stratt. “I didn’t have to
come at all. But since the software industry, patent trolls, and everyone else related to intellectual property banded together in one lawsuit, I figured it would be fastest to nip this in the bud all at once.”
She grabbed her satchel and put the tablet inside. “I’ll be on my way.”
Then came the official announcement: a team led by Dr Jonas Edward Salk had developed a safe and effective vaccine against polio. The disease’s days were numbered. In the auditorium where the press conference took place, people fell into each other’s arms, crying. Motorists drove around honking, and
thousands of people took to the streets to celebrate.
One historian later wrote:
A contagion of love swept the world. People observed moments of silence, rang bells, honked horns, blew factory whistles, fired salutes, kept their traffic lights red in brief periods of tribute, took the rest of the day off,
closed their schools or convoked fervid assemblies therein, drank toasts, hugged children, attended church, smiled at strangers, forgave enemies
A massive vaccination operation got underway at once, and the quiet virologist became world famous overnight. Three Hollywood studios fought for the rights to his life story, and New York City offered to put on a parade in his honour, but Salk graciously declined.When asked who held the patent to his vaccine, he famously replied, ‘Well, the people, I’d say. There is no patent. Could you patent the sun?
