From his website stallman.org:

Richard Stallman has cancer. Fortunately it is slow-growing and manageable follicular lymphona, so he will probably live many more years nonetheless. But he now has to be even more careful not to catch Covid-19.

Recent video of him speaking at GNU 40 Hacker Meeting. Screenshots of video stream.

  • makeasnek@lemmy.ml
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    1 year ago

    Sad news about a pioneer of internet freedom. He has earned his fair share of criticism and detractors, but he has also given a lot to the Linux and free software ecosystem. I personally run !boinc@sopuli.xyz on all my rigs to support open-source cancer research, I hope one day we can finally cross cancer off the list of humankind’s foes.

    • MaxHardwood@lemmy.ca
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      1 year ago

      I don’t think we’re too far away from AI’s that can refactor compiled code into any language of your choice; then all software will be open source.

      Edit: lul; at least 50 people are butt hurt over the idea that an AI can decipher assembler in 5-10 years

      • bitsplease@lemmy.ml
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        1 year ago

        stop getting all your info about AI and it’s current/upcoming capabilities from mainstream news media my dude lol

        We’re nowhere close to what you describe, and even we were, that wouldn’t be the same thing as “open source”, since you could only do it to code you have access to. You couldn’t - for example, use it to get a copy of the Reddit/Facebook server-side source code

      • mexicancartel@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        1 year ago

        You should know the difference between free software, open source software and source-visible software.

        I rank it Free>opensource>source availiable

      • utopiah@lemmy.ml
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        1 year ago

        Downvoted because phrased as a technical solution. There might be a technical solution one day but until then, if it ever happens, it’s a moral problem. By phrasing it otherwise we diminish the value and efforts of countless people, including RMS, who did invest their time in FLOSS for an ideal. Again it might happen but until then we must bet on what is right, not an idealized future that prompts idleness because it is genuinely dangerous.

      • kevincox@lemmy.ml
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        1 year ago

        I think we still have a long way to go before this is equivalent to “the preferred form for modification”. I’d give it at least 5 more years. It would be really cool if you could just say “Hello AI, please remove all ad code from Windows”. But I think it is going to be a long time until we get there.

        Also as this gets closer companies will get more defensive. It will become an arms race of obfuscating the code vs the AI understanding it.

        And still, free software that can be modified and the copies can be redistributed is a world away from being able to ask your AI to try and make these modifications yourself.

        On top of all of that don’t forget about DMCA where circumventing digital protections is a crime, even if you don’t commit any other crime.

      • notsharp@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        if AI can create code by its own, then that’s the day when every white collar jobs will be replaced by AI.

      • Ð Greıt Þu̇mpkin@lemm.ee
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        Someone still has to know how to query the AI for it to spit out the code that actually does what we want it to.

        The only way current AI models would gain the abilities you described in any practical sense is if they joined forces with the neuroscientists to invent a brain implant that would allow a human brain to exploit the advantages of human intelligence and artificial intelligence models while shoring up the weaknesses of both.

    • 520@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      I have a hard time deciding what to do with this.

      On the one hand… Dude, even as someone who loves dark humour, I couldn’t bring myself to make a cancer joke upon news of a diagnosis unless the person was a true shitstain on the earth, like Trump.

      On the other hand…that was fucking brilliant and works on so many levels.

      • I had pretty much the same thought process.
        It’s dark, but brilliant.
        Yet I can’t imagine RMS being offended by this, so I shouldn’t either.
        That’s the kind of thing I wouldn’t be too surprised to hear from the guy himself.

        The world is a better place because of him and I wish him well.

    • galoisghost@aussie.zone
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      1 year ago

      That’s a terrible joke that deserves the downvotes, because cancer is shit and I only wish the best to anyone who is diagnosed with it, but I laughed.

      • Rai@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        1 year ago

        I don’t get the joke :c

        Cancer is absolute shit, but I do also love dark humour (when I get it lawl)

        • Almamu@lemmy.world
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          Comes from the copy pasta of “I’d just like to interject for a moment. What you’re refering to as Linux, is in fact, GNU/Linux, or as I’ve recently taken to calling it, GNU plus Linux” and. And a bit more memeing with the fact that Linux itself is not as “free/libre” as GNU AFAIK (or the famous quote of Linux is cancer from Ballmer)

        • z500@startrek.website
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          It’s a reference to a copypasta.

          I’d just like to interject for a moment. What you’re referring to as Linux, is in fact, GNU/Linux, or as I’ve recently taken to calling it, GNU plus Linux. Linux is not an operating system unto itself, but rather another free component of a fully functioning GNU system made useful by the GNU corelibs, shell utilities and vital system components comprising a full OS as defined by POSIX. Many computer users run a modified version of the GNU system every day, without realizing it. Through a peculiar turn of events, the version of GNU which is widely used today is often called “Linux,” and many of its users are not aware that it is basically the GNU system, developed by the GNU Project. There really is a Linux, and these people are using it, but it is just a part of the system they use.

          Linux is the kernel: the program in the system that allocates the machine’s resources to the other programs that you run. The kernel is an essential part of an operating system, but useless by itself; it can only function in the context of a complete operating system. Linux is normally used in combination with the GNU operating system: the whole system is basically GNU with Linux added, or GNU/Linux. All the so-called “Linux” distributions are really distributions of GNU/Linux.

    • chuck@lemmy.ca
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      1 year ago

      Well it’s dark humor and I can see how some are deeply offended. The post even says it’s a slow growing treatable form, so personally I’ll laugh at the joke. It’s not like he’s end stage untreatable form of cancer. Like you know arch linux running on WSL level cancer.

      • 520@kbin.social
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        Dunno why you of all people are insulting their intelligence.

        While they made a clever double reference to the GNU/Linux meme and tying it in with the Ballmer ‘Linux is cancer’ rant, you not only come out with a one word response, but that one word makes you look infinitely worse than the person who literally made a cancer joke upon news of a diagnosis.

        Maybe ableist slurs weren’t the best idea?

          • 520@kbin.social
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            Just because you ain’t got the braincells to make the connection doesn’t mean others can’t.

            Speaking of overuse, you sure are using the r-word liberally for someone who couldn’t get the joke. Or is it one of those “I’m black therefore I can use the N-word” kind of things?

              • 520@kbin.social
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                Why yes, that slur does apply to me! You see, I have autism and don’t take particularly kindly to that slur.

                Unlike you though, I actually have to tell people before they know there’s something wrong with me. Because, again unlike you, I can act like a normal human being. As opposed to acting like a 5 year old that just learned the r-word. Sorry, I can tell you need an explanation for these things!

        • schnurrito@discuss.tchncs.de
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          1 year ago

          You know, serious question from someone relatively new to the fediverse: how do you make sure that people won’t just create many accounts across instances if they want to evade bans or create one-time throwaways for posting abusive comments? One instance has no idea about users on other instances after all.

          • 520@kbin.social
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            1 year ago

            You can’t, not effectively. This ain’t necessarily a federation problem though, centralised social media has the same problem. You can do the same on Reddit.

            That’s not to say there aren’t things that can be done. Instances can agree to implement shared banlists that include known-abusive IPs or, if an abusive user has a habit of using a pattern in their evasion usernames, you can use a Regex to hunt them out.

            • schnurrito@discuss.tchncs.de
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              1 year ago

              On reddit the entire user database is in the hands of one company, so they might be able to tell whether two people are (likely) the same person. So I think that might actually be a problem made worse by federation.

              • 520@kbin.social
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                1 year ago

                You’d be surprised how hard the task is. Any given identifier can be trivially changed. IP addresses aren’t permanent and change frequently for home users. Multiple people genuinely use the same IP. People are likely to have very similar writing styles to someone else by complete coincidence. Browser fingerprinting can be thrown off by simply using another browser or fucking with the User Agent.

                That about puts paid to any identifiers either Reddit or an instance owner may have.

    • Gamey@feddit.de
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      My humor is fucking dark so I had to laugh but that one dose go a little far, it’s a good joke but with that timing I certainly wouldn’t make it!

          • 520@kbin.social
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            1 year ago

            Do you really need an explanation as to how telling someone to kill themselves, then calling them the N-word, is racist?

              • 520@kbin.social
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                1 year ago

                What are you seeing? Because I’m still seeing their comment of “Kill yourself [N-word]” plain as day.

                • darcy@sh.itjust.works
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                  1 year ago

                  pictured: a comment, a reply ‘retard’, and then you replying to that. im on jerboa+sh.itjust.works, it may be showing the wrong comment on my end, idk.

                  (as described above)

  • QuentinCallaghan@sopuli.xyz
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    1 year ago

    Seeing him without his beard and hair feels so wrong and even uncanny. I hope he has a lot more years ahead of him and he kicks cancer’s ass.

  • pH3ra@lemmy.ml
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    1 year ago

    His page doesn’t load so it must be overwhelmed with visitors.
    Linux users all around the world who want to be close to him.
    When things matter, we are a good community guys <3

  • ptrck@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    From what I read it slow growing and pretty manageable as far as cancer is manageable of course. Hope he’ll make a quick recovery, and start growing that magnificent beard back.

      • palordrolap@kbin.social
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        1 year ago

        Yikes. Your comment was very easy to take out of context.

        Until I read back, it looked like you were saying Hank’s cancer was somehow back stronger than before (which would have to have been practically fresh breaking news), and not a comment on post-chemotherapy beard growth being different, perhaps stronger, than before.

        Follicular cancer doesn’t sound like it bodes as well for a beard as other kinds of lymphoma (like Hank’s was) but hey, you might still be right.

        (RMS is a controversial character in some regards. While I wouldn’t strictly wish the loss of a greybeard’s beard as cosmic correction of controversial behaviour, I’d much rather that than cancer. That’d be too far, Universe.)

  • katy ✨
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    1 year ago

    Eff cancer :(

    Hopefully some day we get to the point where it’s as rare as polio. I think that’s the same kind that Hank Green had though, IIRC. Hopefully it’s as manageable.

  • electromage@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    Is he accepting medical treatments that require non-free software? Serious question, from what I know of him he would rather die. I don’t know if that changes when you’re actually faced with it though.

    • Captain Beyond@linkage.ds8.zone
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      Software freedom applies only to hardware you personally own. It wouldn’t even apply to machines you interact with but do not own (such as ATMs or kiosks) since you aren’t the one who agrees to the proprietary software license.

      Stallman himself explains it in his computing FAQ.

      • merc@sh.itjust.works
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        If you would like to put my speech on the Internet, or distribute it in digital form, I insist on using the formats of the free software community: Ogg Vorbis or Ogg Speex

        Streaming is a kind of Internet distribution, so everything in the previous section applies. In particular, you must use only Ogg format or Matroska VP8 (Webm).

        http://xahlee.info/emacs/misc/rms_speech_requirement.html

        It seems reasonable to wonder if he’ll allow an MRI image of his cancer if that image isn’t saved in a Free format. I don’t know where he draws the line, but his requirements seem to go quite a bit beyond what he owns or interacts with.

    • anothermember@beehaw.org
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      He mentioned once that he can use a bank that doesn’t use free software because he’s not logging in to it to do general purpose computing. I think the same would probably apply to medical treatments.

      • gibson@sopuli.xyz
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        I believe he does extend it to JavaScript however, so if he were required to run unfree javascript on a webpage relating to his treatment that could be a problem.

          • Captain Beyond@linkage.ds8.zone
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            1 year ago

            The code merely being “available” isn’t the same thing as the user having the legal freedom to modify and share it. Besides, that’s not always the case; sometimes JavaScript is minified, obfuscated, and packed in ways that make it effectively no different than any other compiled program.

            Note that source code is “the preferred form for making modifications” so obfuscated code is by definition not “source.”

  • aba@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    RMS is a hero he will survive. I really respect this dude commitment to his beliefs and values and everyone know that he is right despite any personal biases against him. Foss is the way.

  • Bali@lemmy.cafe
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    1 year ago

    Yes Stallman have issues but you dont wish someone dead! I know someone who is currently battling cancer and on chemotherapy and its an awful situation just to see it. I hope RMS can beat the cancer.