From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.9 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00 autolearn=unavailable autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 Path: eternal-september.org!reader01.eternal-september.org!reader02.eternal-september.org!news.eternal-september.org!mx02.eternal-september.org!feeder.eternal-september.org!gandalf.srv.welterde.de!news.jacob-sparre.dk!loke.jacob-sparre.dk!pnx.dk!.POSTED!not-for-mail From: "Randy Brukardt" Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: GNAT GPL is not shareware Date: Fri, 30 Jan 2015 15:03:27 -0600 Organization: Jacob Sparre Andersen Research & Innovation Message-ID: References: <0Kgqw.953330$_k.685364@fx16.iad> <199c826a-923e-497f-a8e2-9e732c8a5665@googlegroups.com> <87bnmetex4.fsf@ludovic-brenta.org> <4ae7f0d5-d681-4be9-95bc-b5e789b3ad40@googlegroups.com> <87tx06rve6.fsf@ludovic-brenta.org> <87lhlirpk0.fsf@ludovic-brenta.org> <4984c229-bdcd-4032-bd88-cde66482e6df@googlegroups.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: rrsoftware.com X-Trace: loke.gir.dk 1422651807 26321 24.196.82.226 (30 Jan 2015 21:03:27 GMT) X-Complaints-To: news@jacob-sparre.dk NNTP-Posting-Date: Fri, 30 Jan 2015 21:03:27 +0000 (UTC) X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2900.5931 X-RFC2646: Format=Flowed; Response X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2900.6157 Xref: news.eternal-september.org comp.lang.ada:24823 Date: 2015-01-30T15:03:27-06:00 List-Id: I said: ... > So one could say that Free Software most likely will lead directly to the > destruction of human civilization. :-) I think I best explain this smiley in case someone misinterprets what I think here. I certainly don't believe that Free Software (specifically the GPL) is the sole cause of this result, or even the most important cause. It contributes, but clearly Twitter and similar systems are much more to blame. (Not to pick on Twitter too much, it's just a platform. Someone else would have done it if they didn't. It's the mentality of Twitter, the idea that anything valuable can be communicated in dribs-and-drabs, that's the problem. All that one can communicate in 140 characters are irrelevancies and distortions -- because that's all that will fit. Not to mention the frequent outright lies.) That instant gratification mentality leads directly to trial-and-error software, because people don't think they have the time to do it right (they're usually wrong, but the mentality of getting something up in 12 hours leads to trying to do too much too quick in some instant gratification platform and results in at best unmaintainable junk). For a lot of people, computers will *have* to run their lives, because they won't be capable of anything else. (The recent studies on brain changes shows a clear loss of connected thinking in smartphone users.) For them, the ultimate result won't matter, so perhaps no one will even notice the loss of any valuable civilization. Has anyone ever wondered why we've never been visited by other intelligent life, given that statistically there must be hundreds of thousands of such civilizations in our galaxy? One possibility is that intelligent life is effectively self-limiting, and we right now are at the peak of possible development -- at some point all such life gets so much technology that they lose the ability to grow anymore -- and we're right at that point now. (This is one of the rare cases that I hope I'm wrong about...) Randy.