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SYSTEM_ERROR_SCWARTZ


                                             December 16, 2022
                                             March    18, 2023

About "System Error" (2021):
                                          SYSTEM_ERROR
In the introduction for this book,
they cover the story of Aaron
Schwartz, the brilliant young man who
committed suicide in 2013.                 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron_Swartz

It's nice to see someone taking the
trouble to remember Aaron Schwartz,
but what really does this have with
the main thesis of the book?

None of regulatory changes proposed
here are targeted at opening up the
world of scientific publications.
What would have prevented MIT from
hounding Schwartz to death?

    Perhaps the idea is that this is a
    good example of capitalism gone          Reading closely, on p. xxiii
    wild: a saner style of corporate         they refer to Schwartz death
    governance might reduce the              in 2013 as a "hinge event",
    liklihood of these incidents... but      and decry the fact that this
    if that is the idea, they might've       brilliant, idealistic programmer
    said so.                                 is never mentioned today--

                                             So they're complaint is that the
                                             sole focus of technological
                                             development is getting rich,
                                             not doing something worthwhile.

                                                 And they regard this as
                                                 part of the "optimization
                                                 mindset"-- picking a parameter
                                                 to optimize as a goal, and
                                                 not questioning if it's the
                                                 right parameter.

                                                 SYSTEM_ERROR_OPTIMIND












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