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Comment by firasd | Hacker News Reader

A touching note from Zephyr Teachout:

"I miss Aaron Swartz. He died 5 years ago today. He was a friend and a rare, huge, soul, and oh did he ever believe in freedom and the possibilities of the future. Wish you were still on call for late night IM strategy sessions, or philosophy, dear friend. I think of you." https://twitter.com/ZephyrTeachout/status/951538523076792320

I also appreciate this thought from a fellow HN poster: "'They say you die twice. One time when you stop breathing and a second time, a bit later on, when somebody says your name for the last time.' That was not even close to the ending of Aaron Swartz." https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11719398

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Similarly, Lessig:

"Five years ago, we lost Aaron Swartz. None should rest, for still, there is no peace."

https://twitter.com/lessig/status/951425535388692481

And Arron's mum:

"RIP my darling boy. It's been 5 years. If you do one thing today, honor Aaron's memory by calling your Senators and Representatives in Congress and begging them to support #Aaron'sLaw to reform the CFAA (Computer Fraud and Abuse Act)."

https://twitter.com/beadmomsw/status/951479126636027904

I still mourn for what we lost. Aaron was only at the start, and he'd already done so much.

The quote about death seems very similar to David Eagleman's book "Forty Tales from the Afterlives".

Here's an excerpt that you might find interesting: http://www.eagleman.com/sum/excerpt

It is also a way of thinking about death prevalent in Jewish culture.

Indeed! It's why many Jews choose to name children after deceased relatives to honor and remember them.

Also a similar quote by Irving Yalom:

"Some day soon, perhaps in forty years, there will be no one alive who has ever known me. That's when I will be truly dead - when I exist in no one's memory. I thought a lot about how someone very old is the last living individual to have known some person or cluster of people. When that person dies, the whole cluster dies, too, vanishes from the living memory. I wonder who that person will be for me. Whose death will make me truly dead?"

https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/153699-some-day-soon-perhap...

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