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Jun 12, 2025

akkartik.name · 918 words · saved by 1 readers

𝐀. Computer owners can't easily understand or modify programs they run. 𝐁. Computer vendors compete to limit permissions for modifying programs. Both 𝐀 and 𝐁 have happened through the efforts of often idealistic people, but they've brought us to a world that it seems clear is going in the wrong direction: These pragmatic solutions in turn led to more idealistic attempts to solve 𝐀 and 𝐁. First 𝐁: Various movements (open source, right to repair) and specific actions (forking browsers, forking app stores) have tried to limit the power of vendors, but they have only ever succeeded by creating new vendors. These methods don't point towards a synthesis. One idealistic way to get 𝐀 has been a movement toward making better use of run-time experience during the process of understanding a program. Let's call it 𝐀1. One idealistic way to get 𝐀 has been to "render unto vendors that which belongs to vendors" and focus on domains that lead to a certain desirable social organization. Perfe

Jun 12, 2025 about contact Kartik Agaram Freewheeling Apps Jun 12, 2025 I've been moved by a few different recent pieces [Ⅰ][Ⅱ][Ⅲ][Ⅳ] to think anew about what I want, and how it relates with goals a lot of other people seem to have. Here's a map that the rest of this post tours: I'm very dissatisfied with the current state of the world in two regards: 𝐀. Computer owners can't easily understand or modify programs they run. 𝐁. Computer vendors compete to limit permissions for modifying programs. Both 𝐀 and 𝐁 have happened through the ef

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