a comment on an article about linus torvalds in ars illustrates why i like working with computers so much better than working with people... Linus is focused on technical concepts, and technical concepts dont care about social concerns. How the kernel behaves has nothing to do with the gender or color of the user. Computers are perfectly un-racist, because they dont have any way to be different. Even if I wrote a program that said something hateful and racist based upon the apparent color of the person in front of a webcam, it wouldnt be the computer doing it, it would be the program that is directed by my intent. All of the political correctness in the world will not make people as truly gender/race/whatever-neutral as a computer innately is. It takes intelligence and will, not computing power, to be malicious and hateful. Linus isnt interested in the human side of all of this. He is working with computers and software that do not have feelings, and cannot be swayed by emotion. The feelings of users and developers alike are entirely disconnected from the reality that is Linux, the kernel, or any other software or hardware. Why should he be concerned with anything other than technical merit, when that is all that truly makes a difference in the computing world? I recognize that in endeavors involving multiple people, managing the people and how they relate is an issue that can affect the end result. If half of the people working on the kernel hate the other half, and wont work with them, then it will hurt development. When it comes to open source, though, where many of the people contributing are volunteers, and no one is required to do any of the work, it doesnt make any sense to attempt to assert your own emotional beliefs over any of the other contributors. Individuals will have to learn how to deal with each other, or choose to step away and let others do the work. All that should matter is the quality of the work being done. Everything else is emotional, human nonsense.
Posted on: Sun, 18 Jan 2015 18:22:18 +0000