Since I know there are some nerds in the audience, I thought I would point to this radio interview with Richard Stallman. Every response Stallman is going to make to any substantive question can be derived from his ideology, but it's always funny to see him interacting with normals. The dynamic reminds me a lot of how I saw people in Bangladesh deal with my uncle who was high up in the Tablighi Jamaat. Of course, I joke about how weird Stallman is, but it seems to me that individuals with his peculiar psychological profile and cognitive talents have probably had an outsized affect on the shape of human history. Stallman is unlikely to replicate his genes, but like Gilgamesh he will live on in memory....

Related: Article about Stallman from Salon. Note that it states he has (had? The article is old) a friendship with John McCarthy, which suggests that Stallman's rigid radicalism does not seem to prevent relationships with those who are opposed to his politics.

Labels: Nerds