From 64ddd24bb05ceba08bae4752d197fa602986a616 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: shr4pnel Date: Sat, 20 Apr 2024 22:29:42 +0100 Subject: [PATCH] =?UTF-8?q?Update=20shr4pnelblog=20=E2=80=9C2023-08-08-swa?= =?UTF-8?q?rtz=E2=80=9D?= MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit --- _posts/2023-08-08-swartz.md | 4 ++-- 1 file changed, 2 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-) diff --git a/_posts/2023-08-08-swartz.md b/_posts/2023-08-08-swartz.md index 905a5ee..df803c4 100644 --- a/_posts/2023-08-08-swartz.md +++ b/_posts/2023-08-08-swartz.md @@ -1,11 +1,11 @@ --- +layout: post title: "The death of Aaron Swartz, or: \"fiction's about what it is to be a fucking human being\"" date: 2023-08-08T18:22:30.706Z permalink: swartz description: Tyler covers the life and death of Aaron Swartz, a software pioneer and savant who stuck to their principles to the end. -layout: post --- ![Aaron Swartz standing amongst books in a library](/article/swartz/aaronswartz.jpg) @@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ Aaron was caught sharing paywalled scientific journals freely accessible to MIT Carmen Ortiz, the presiding judge over his case, faced multiple inquiries after the case, but was not removed from office and to this day continues to deny that Aaron was overcharged. -"Our beloved brother, son, friend, and partner Aaron Swartz hanged himself on Friday in his Brooklyn apartment. We are in shock, and have not yet come to terms with his passing. \[Aaron's death is not simply a personal tragedy. It is the product of a criminal justice system rife with intimidation and prosecutorial overreach.](https://web.archive.org/web/20130112233941/https://rememberaaronsw.tumblr.com/post/40372208044/official-statement-from-the-family-and-partner-of-aaron)" +"Our beloved brother, son, friend, and partner Aaron Swartz hanged himself on Friday in his Brooklyn apartment. We are in shock, and have not yet come to terms with his passing. [Aaron's death is not simply a personal tragedy. It is the product of a criminal justice system rife with intimidation and prosecutorial overreach.](https://web.archive.org/web/20130112233941/https://rememberaaronsw.tumblr.com/post/40372208044/official-statement-from-the-family-and-partner-of-aaron)" One of Aaron's favourite books was infinite jest, by David Foster Wallace, who also tragically passed 5 years prior to Aaron of hanging. "[Fiction's about what it is to be a fucking human](https://web.archive.org/web/20150520115701/https://isismagazine.org.uk/2015/03/the-isis-short-essay-competition-fictions-about-what-it-is-to-be-a-fucking-human-being-david-foster-wallace-is-it)" is a quote of his. I spent a long time looking for a fitting title and it just seemed to click for me. Maybe this is tenuous, but i have never thought that art, software and fiction were that far from each other. Aaron's work enabled the creation and sharing of all three through the often overlooked power of RSS.