wrack

"I've always been baffled by the technologists who pursued control over liberation: surely their own formative experiences were of the liberatory power of technology. After experiencing that power, how could these Vichy nerds lend their skills to the project of forging digital shackles?"

– Cory Doctorow

[via @pluralistic]

Dec 3, 2022 at 5:02pmWeb
Show threadSéamus BraddDec 3, 2022

@ccohanlon @pluralistic

Stealing the phrase 'vichy nerds'. Doctorow continues to be a treasure.

Show threadRubenDec 3, 2022
@ophiolith @pluralistic @ccohanlon Of course, Vichy the original Nazi collaborators from WW2. Took me a moment...
Show threadPete Prodoehl 🍕Dec 3, 2022
@ccohanlon @pluralistic I can only assume it’s about compromising your values and wanting to survive in the Capitalist hellscape.
Show threadClaude RainsDec 3, 2022
@ccohanlon @pluralistic you had me at “Vichy nerds.”
Show threadAllan ChowDec 3, 2022
@ccohanlon @pluralistic the more I interact with more people in the industry the more I feel so much is a snowball effect where leaders literally don't believe the impacts their decisions have or don't care. In either case so many are just "welp no turning back now, onto the next problem in front of me."
Show threadSaftyKumaDec 3, 2022

@ccohanlon @pluralistic

I honestly think it is because they know they were able to dethrone IBM and the mainframe owners of old because THEY had access to open platforms that treated THEM as the owners and operators of their systems and data.

Thus they make new shackles because they fear sharing the same fate.

Show threadtenoDec 4, 2022

@ccohanlon @pluralistic

Vichy nerds 🔥🔥