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Aaron Swartz
1986–2013 · Co-creator of RSS, Co-founder of Reddit, Open Access Activist
He helped build RSS at 14. Co-founded Reddit. Then he fought to make academic research free for everyone, because he believed knowledge locked behind paywalls was a moral crime. The federal government came after him with 35 years in prison for downloading journal articles. He was 26. The system crushed him, but his code, his activism, and his belief that knowledge belongs to all of humanity outlive every prosecutor who came for him. A Grithosian builds things that outlast them. That's how you beat death.
Quoted in these Footings
VIR-I-0002“I know what I should do, but it's going to cost me.”APX-VI-0001“I keep telling myself I'm a victim of my circumstances.”APX-VI-0005“I successfully rebuilt a habit I'd lost.”APX-VI-0006“I've been waiting for permission to pursue what I actually want.”CTL-VIII-0001“I just got fired.”DTH-X-0001“I keep putting off what matters because I think I have time.”VER-XV-0001“I don't know what's real anymore, news, images, even voices can be faked.”VER-XV-0002“I can't tell if the news I'm reading is real.”APX-V-0026“I made it, and now I'm using my position to pull others up behind me.”DTH-XII-0035“I helped a stranger with nothing to gain and it stayed with me.”VER-XIII-0032“My mind is quiet for the first time in years since I quit the feeds.”VER-XIII-0033“I'm old enough now to stop wanting most of what they're selling.”
+ 3 more across the canon