On solving the world's problems

[photm]

Maybe I should go through my post and clarify things here and there

I’ve began the thread because I was wondering whether snowdrift.coop is a place where I should be. I thought a good thing might be to start talking about some of the matters that cause me to think I shouldn’t be here:

@photm

As a result, while I like what you’re doing, it’s hard for me to support the effort on a deep level.

Now my most recent post:

@photm

Maybe I should clarify that while I can relate to the problem of practically-libre software – because I know the usefulness of such software, and would thus like there to be more of it – this doesn’t imply that it’s a good thing. Sometimes stuff that I like on an emotional level is really bad – I guess that’s normal in many topics

I like what you’re doing: I regularly encounter the problem you’re solving and sometimes I even have some emotional attachment to it. But I don’t think it’s good to solve it. (I also don’t think it’s evil in itself to solve it.)

A very weird example that still explains why being able to relate to the problem doesn’t imply I think it’s good to solve it: Death. Everyone needs to die at some point – I can relate that this is bad, but I don’t think we should solve it. Since my point is less about being able to solve it than it being good to solve it, here’s what that would be in the example: Death is there for a reason – IMHO we’re all doing very evil things, but since we’re limited by death, there’s a maximum to how evil and sophisticated the stuff we do can become.

@photm

But I think it’s good to talk about these kinds of things: I notice that I’m sometimes arrogant around world-view topics, and that it’s very hard for me to talk about these sorts of things with other people who have fundamentally different beliefs.

At this point I noticed that I was in the middle of a discussion that is hard for me to have in a different place. I explained why I think having more of this sort of discussion would be good. In fact, this is the same “good” that I meant earlier when I said I cannot see how funding FLO is a “good” thing: Talking about these sorts of matters is a stronger reason for me to stay around than funding FLO is.

@photm

So I guess leaving you just because I cannot deeply support the cause due to fundamental differences, would be one of those decisions that isolate me from people with different beliefs. This in turn leads to even more inability to understand others and talk with them about interesting topics.

This simply continues the reasoning why this sort of discussion is good. While the other paragraph explained my problems of character (being arrogant, finding it hard to talk about certain topics) around this, this one unfolds how they are related to staying here vs leaving.

@photm

So maybe it’s a good idea for me to stay around a little, hoping that more conversation about ethical/spiritual sorts of topics will happen. There probably is a balance where this is good for the project overall, by connecting people and generating activity, without distracting from getting work done.

I then wondered whether this is OK for you. After all, I wouldn’t be here to help funding FLO, but to talk about off-topic things. I felt this might be distracting and very rude behavior, similar to what trolls do. I concluded with the hope that there’s a way forward that both allows me to have these sorts of conversations, while at the same time being net positive for the project.