His life's work was focused on the accessibility and dissemination of knowledge.
This isn't what I normally post, but it's a summary of some morning reflections since Monday is the anniversary of @aaronsw's death.
He had a big impact on the world (and me). He's someone you should know.
Here's a tribute.
His life's work was focused on the accessibility and dissemination of knowledge.
Here's the preamble to his "Guerilla Open Access Manifesto".
He was the definition of mission, even if it meant flying in the grey areas of hactivism.
Through a library loophole he downloaded 2.7 million documents and released them to the world.
PACER still charges to my knowledge, but @binarybits continued the mission with a browser extension that gives free access through the @FreeLawProject
He was a central organizer in stopping the SOPA legislation, which....
He sat on @Wikimedia's board of trustees, helped create @SecureDrop for whistle blowers, and VictoryKit for organizing social change campaigns.
He sparked many missions of openness and many other actors were a part of the movement, although as Sci Hub found recently, the movement has many skirmishes.
Snark courtesy of @conaw:
https://t.co/O3WzoZ5tAh
Love to see big tech living their values. https://t.co/NdyKzZMYlh
— Conor White-Sullivan \U000100cf\U0001f1fa\U0001f1f8 (@Conaw) January 8, 2021
That event - he wrote a program that pulled research papers from JSTOR in accordance with their terms of service using his laptop and MIT's open internet and open campus.
JSTOR asked for prosecution to be dropped, but US Attorney Carmen Ortiz kept going, even though...
Lack of evidence sure didn't stop her from threatening the harshest penalties for a plea though.
"Somehow, we need to get beyond the 'I’m right so I’m right to nuke you' ethics that dominates our time.
That begins with one word: Shame.
One word, and endless tears."
The only explanation I have is that this person, while certainly not perfect, was the one person I've met (or at least idealized) who is the...
In an era where truth has jumped from that which frees us then to a four letter word then to an amorphous concept, we need more of the pursuit of truth, not less.
We keep forgetting...
Our world is too big and our problems too large for truth to be binary and our knowledge to be closed.
...anyways....
We should try to be more like the best of him, especially when we appear to be standing on the heads of many pins, a whisper from falling into chaos.
Have a great weekend and here's a poem from @timberners_lee
https://t.co/uO5wvbCIbt
More from Society
1/ One year of destroyed economies, social isolation & deep social splits calls for an anniversary ⬇️thread ⬇️ to celebrate the RT-qPCR manuscript by Christian Drosten (@c_drosten) & Victor Corman (@vmcorman), submitted on 21st Jan 2020 to @Eurosurveillanc. #UnbiasedScience
2/ Before this very publication, virologists were neither treated like superstars, nor were they considered icons or half-gods. In 2009, Drosten almost succeeded in installing the false premise virology could supersede holistic medical sciences as discussed in this thread.
3/ Drosten is a virologist. He neither has any background in epidemiology, nor has he ever worked in the civil service. He also doesn’t have a background in public health. Yet he and his colleagues affect our daily lives to the level of whom to meet up or how to flush the toilet.
4/ Before January 2020, Drosten and Corman were common virologists at Charité Berlin, whenever they were not involved in economic implications (https://t.co/UTDwG8U7Du). Other than that, they looked at coronaviruses in dromedary calves in the Middle East or Africa. 😍 #cute
5/ Finally in Jan 2020, the published paper laid the theoretical grounds for the current pandemic, the RT-qPCR mass testing-religion, for which he was awarded his second German Federal Cross of Merit (he received the first one in 2005 for developing the SARS-CoV PCR test).
2/ Before this very publication, virologists were neither treated like superstars, nor were they considered icons or half-gods. In 2009, Drosten almost succeeded in installing the false premise virology could supersede holistic medical sciences as discussed in this thread.
3/ Drosten is a virologist. He neither has any background in epidemiology, nor has he ever worked in the civil service. He also doesn’t have a background in public health. Yet he and his colleagues affect our daily lives to the level of whom to meet up or how to flush the toilet.
4/ Before January 2020, Drosten and Corman were common virologists at Charité Berlin, whenever they were not involved in economic implications (https://t.co/UTDwG8U7Du). Other than that, they looked at coronaviruses in dromedary calves in the Middle East or Africa. 😍 #cute
5/ Finally in Jan 2020, the published paper laid the theoretical grounds for the current pandemic, the RT-qPCR mass testing-religion, for which he was awarded his second German Federal Cross of Merit (he received the first one in 2005 for developing the SARS-CoV PCR test).
