Hacker News Reader

Believing that Free software will save the world from authoritarian regimes is … how can I put it diplomatically … wishful thinking not matching real world realities. It would be great if it was true of course, but a fist in your face by an authoritarian regime will quickly teach you otherwise.

View on HN

Yeah, this mindset reeks of the same kind of mentality that tech-bro SV startups... "I'm the main character, with this technology (I found an open source GitHub repo with 50k stars) I will save the world!" but with an open-source Stallman-esque twist.

Open source software is a great thing for humanity, but as software engineers, we should keep the big picture in mind. Software is software. The sky has been blue and the grass has been green since long before software existed, and the sky will be blue and the grass will be green long after software ceases to exist.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com