Aaron Swartz
Aaron Swartz
Aaron Hillel Swartzwas an American computer programmer, entrepreneur, writer, political organizer, and Internet hacktivist. He was involved in the development of the web feed format RSS and the Markdown publishing format, the organization Creative Commons, the website framework web.py, and the social news site Reddit, in which he became a partner after its merger with his company, Infogami...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionBusinessman
Date of Birth8 November 1986
CountryUnited States of America
Aaron Swartz quotes about
Reality is painful -- it's so much easier to keep doing stuff you know you're good at or else to pick something so hard there's no point at which it's obvious you're failing -- but it's impossible to get better without confronting it.
Steadfastness is a noble quality, but unguided by knowledge or humility, it becomes rashness, or obstinacy.
Books are totally useless unless you take their advice. If you just keep reading them, thinking "that's so insightful! that changes everything," but never actually doing anything different, then pretty quickly the feeling will wear off and you'll start searching for another book to fill the void.
Life is short ... so why waste it doing something dumb?
Information is power. But like all power, there are those who want to keep it for themselves.
Real education is about genuine understanding and the ability to figure things out on your own; not about making sure every 7th grader has memorized all the facts some bureaucrats have put in the 7th grade curriculum.
But all of this action goes on in the dark, hidden underground. It’s called stealing or piracy, as if sharing a wealth of knowledge were the moral equivalent of plundering a ship and murdering its crew. But sharing isn’t immoral - it’s a moral imperative. Only those blinded by greed would refuse to let a friend make a copy.
No, you can’t force other people to change. You can, however, change just about everything else. And usually, that’s enough.
Think deeply about things. Don’t just go along because that’s the way things are or that’s what your friends say. Consider the effects, consider the alternatives, but most importantly, just think.
With enough of us, around the world, we'll not just send a strong message opposing the privatization of knowledge - we'll make it a thing of the past.
What is the most important thing you could be working on in the world right now? ... And if you're not working on that, why aren't you?
Senator Wyden continues to be the Senate's truest champion of an open Internet.
There's all sorts of stuff people want to publish anonymously.
Computers will be able to do all the mundane tasks in our daily lives.