Re: is Debian an anarchist organization/project?
On Tuesday 29 October 2002 22:22, Jonathan Walther wrote:
> I've heard some people saying that Debian is a good example of
> anarchy in action. If it is, how does that fit in with the statement
> mimeographed below? Maybe we aren't anarchist after all... What should
> I tell people who ask if Debian is anarchic?
>
how could a group of people numbering around a thousand and at any one point
in time having at least a hundred active members claim to be anarchist?
Without rules to follow and some form of leadership we would be a lot worse
off than people think we are now. Anarchy like dictatorship is an extreme
and extremes do not work well with people.
A big thing associated with anarchy is the notion that there is no property.
Obviously those new to free software/open source assume we feel the same way.
Most developers do believe that code they wrote is theirs. That the author
chooses to share their property reflects each author's beliefs and morals but
should not necessarily be seen as a statement against ownership.
Personally I choose to give because it was other people's gifts that brought
me into computers and which continue to put food on my table and a roof over
my head. I also like to think of this community like any other close nit
community. Groups of people give to each other knowing that their gifts will
be returned. Modern society has lost this to some degree but we see it all
over the Internet.
If anything I would say we are closer to Marx's idea of communism.
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