From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.io!.POSTED.ciao.gmane.io!not-for-mail From: Marcin Borkowski Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.devel Subject: Re: Some ideas with Emacs Date: Mon, 11 May 2020 21:37:28 +0200 Message-ID: <87h7wmi7pj.fsf@mbork.pl> References: <87d0dbszjn.fsf@mbork.pl> <8736e4titj.fsf@mbork.pl> <871rtoti9w.fsf@mbork.pl> <87v9qysxbb.fsf@mbork.pl> <87tv6hq62w.fsf@mbork.pl> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Injection-Info: ciao.gmane.io; posting-host="ciao.gmane.io:159.69.161.202"; logging-data="125097"; mail-complaints-to="usenet@ciao.gmane.io" User-Agent: mu4e 1.1.0; emacs 27.0.50 Cc: van@scratch.space, emacs-devel@gnu.org To: rms@gnu.org Original-X-From: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane-mx.org@gnu.org Mon May 11 21:39:27 2020 Return-path: Envelope-to: ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane-mx.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([209.51.188.17]) by ciao.gmane.io with esmtps (TLS1.2:ECDHE_RSA_AES_256_GCM_SHA384:256) (Exim 4.92) (envelope-from ) id 1jYEGt-000WN6-LX for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane-mx.org; Mon, 11 May 2020 21:39:27 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([::1]:40182 helo=lists1p.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.90_1) (envelope-from ) id 1jYEGs-00082c-NT for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane-mx.org; Mon, 11 May 2020 15:39:26 -0400 Original-Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([2001:470:142:3::10]:54900) by lists.gnu.org with esmtps (TLS1.2:ECDHE_RSA_AES_256_GCM_SHA384:256) (Exim 4.90_1) (envelope-from ) id 1jYEFe-0006YA-Jn for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Mon, 11 May 2020 15:38:10 -0400 Original-Received: from mail.mojserwer.eu ([195.110.48.8]:45296) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.90_1) (envelope-from ) id 1jYEFZ-0007Qh-2B; Mon, 11 May 2020 15:38:09 -0400 Original-Received: from localhost (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by mail.mojserwer.eu (Postfix) with ESMTP id 2E4EEE6449; Mon, 11 May 2020 21:37:57 +0200 (CEST) X-Virus-Scanned: Debian amavisd-new at mail.mojserwer.eu Original-Received: from mail.mojserwer.eu ([127.0.0.1]) by localhost (mail.mojserwer.eu [127.0.0.1]) (amavisd-new, port 10024) with ESMTP id mXGRiFNqymGd; Mon, 11 May 2020 21:37:54 +0200 (CEST) Original-Received: from localhost (jeden09-dwa27.echostar.pl [213.156.109.227]) by mail.mojserwer.eu (Postfix) with ESMTPSA id C6CB7E6228; Mon, 11 May 2020 21:37:53 +0200 (CEST) In-reply-to: Received-SPF: pass client-ip=195.110.48.8; envelope-from=mbork@mbork.pl; helo=mail.mojserwer.eu X-detected-operating-system: by eggs.gnu.org: First seen = 2020/05/11 15:37:57 X-ACL-Warn: Detected OS = Linux 3.11 and newer [fuzzy] X-Spam_score_int: -25 X-Spam_score: -2.6 X-Spam_bar: -- X-Spam_report: (-2.6 / 5.0 requ) BAYES_00=-1.9, RCVD_IN_DNSWL_LOW=-0.7, RCVD_IN_MSPIKE_H3=0.001, RCVD_IN_MSPIKE_WL=0.001, SPF_PASS=-0.001, URIBL_BLOCKED=0.001 autolearn=_AUTOLEARN X-Spam_action: no action X-BeenThere: emacs-devel@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.23 Precedence: list List-Id: "Emacs development discussions." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane-mx.org@gnu.org Original-Sender: "Emacs-devel" Xref: news.gmane.io gmane.emacs.devel:249877 Archived-At: On 2019-12-05, at 05:41, Richard Stallman wrote: > Turning to the broader ethical issue, I think that _all_ textbooks, > indeed all educational resources, ought to be free -- because they > exist to be _used_ for a practical job: f teaching or learning a > subject. Having thought about it, I have to say that I am not at all convinced. Quite the contrary - I would be suspicious about free educational resources. Why is that so? Because if someone provides me with information (be it of educational nature or otherwise), and I do not pay for it, this means that it is quite probable that someone else paid for it. And the goals of the "someone else" may be very different from my ones. That might not matter that much in case of a calculus textbook, or Emacs manual. But I would *never* give my child a "free history textbook" (for example) unless I made really sure that the author did not try to push some nasty agenda with it. (And I have seen such textbooks myself - see below.) Another reason for my suspicions may be the fact that I have lived in a communist country for some part of my life. Most people in the US do not have such experience, and that is probably the reason they allow the poison of communist ideology to invade their thinking. (In fact, from what I read, the US have almost become a communist country nowadays. I would not want to live there at all! Free speech in the US is definitely a thing of past, and I will not be surprised if the US ditches capitalism and whatever is left of free markets within a decade. Not that I think free market is a silver bullet, but in many cases it seems a good economic solution.) And the idea of free educational resources does smell of communism. A lot. Yet another problem with "free educational resources" is: who would pay for them? And if nobody, who would create them? This is of course not a moral issue, but a pragmatic one - but an issue it is. Of course, I am perhaps mixing the two meanings of the word "free". But this does not matter that much, because if something is "free as in free beer", that means that someone does not get paid for it, and if something digital is "free as in freedom" (e.g., free to copy), that usually means that someone won't get paid for it as much as if it were "non-free". Best, -- Marcin Borkowski http://mbork.pl