[kwlug-disc] Non-tech reference, but may be useful by tech co.

[Mikalai Birukou]

>> It is an extreme idea, cause it deviates from common practice. It
>> may turn out to be a good idea. But you may be labeled an extremist. How do
>> you push back this ad hominem? Being nuanced about the term.
> Good question, but ultimately it is a distraction.

Let's remember somebody from the past, when we didn't have modern 
understanding of human psyche to navigate around rough corners.

Ludwig Eduard Boltzmann. Committed a suicide. From wiki 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_Boltzmann

"""

After Mach's resignation in Vienna in 1901, Boltzmann returned there and 
decided to become a philosopher himself to refute philosophical 
objections to his physics, but he soon became discouraged again. In 1904 
at a physics conference in St. Louis most physicists seemed to reject 
atoms and he was not even invited to the physics section.

"""

Have you noticed 1904? Photo effect by Einstein will come out in 1905!

Refuting "philosophical" objections to physical arguments. I didn't 
realize they had nonsense similar to our days? E.g. "20 Years Later" 
post https://www.math.columbia.edu/~woit/wordpress/?p=12069

It is also easier to drive a nerd nuts, than a street-smart bozo. I 
think Josha's words describe good general picture in 
http://bach.ai/the-plight-of-nerds/

>   If you change course
> and start fighting the label, you've left the original path that led you
> to your new ideas.  Such distraction is useful to adversaries, and an
> easy mistake to make.
>
> As for the "howto" of how to push back, there was a recent kerfuffle
> in the AI community that may lend some useful lessons when under attack.
>
> https://quillette.com/2021/01/27/beating-back-cancel-culture-a-case-study-from-the-field-of-artificial-intelligence/

Somehow I put a need for ASLR (kernel Address Space Layout 
Randomization) together with a need to see bs of pushed onto us logical 
fallacies, packed even into terms like "extremist". I even see an 
analogy between that many-steps hack, that takes lots of time to unpack 
to describe (each step is simple, of course), and an elaborate ad 
hominem usage of "extreme" labeling.

I completely agree that use of KASLR in linux is a "distraction" in a 
world with no hackers. There were few nights I wept from realization 
that I am not in that world. Never mind Santa.