Protesilaos Stavrou

About me

  • Name: Protesilaos (Πρωτεσίλαος)
  • Birth place: Greece
  • Birth year: 1988
  • Residence: Cyprus
  • Email: public@protesilaos.com (check the contact page for further information)

Profile

In my teens I was a semi-professional football (soccer) player and, at times, an assistant to a land surveyor and a motorcycle mechanic.

During my university years I was employed as a bartender, construction worker, receptionist, waiter, etc.

After my studies in mid-2011 and up until ~2016 I got involved in politics-related fields (parliamentary assistant at the European Parliament, independent researcher and external contractor, etc.), with a specialisation in the European Union’s Economic and Monetary Union.

Now I am nominally committed to agricultural activities in a remote mountainous region in Cyprus, though the prevailing conditions (the pandemic, persistent economic recession…) mean that I am oscillating between states of under- and un- employment.

Those granted, I am just a philosopher. I spend much of my time doing philosophy, whether that is by thinking or writing. I also program my custom computing environment and generally try to do things my way for their inherent recreational or educational value.

Sometimes I blend programming with philosophy, as made evident by such questions as the one that populates my GitLab/GitHub profile’s description:

At what point does a tinkerer become a programmer, provided no formal background in the latter?

Or in some of the videos I make which are nominally about a text editor but I actually talk philosophy, such as:

In a manner of speaking, I just talk to programmers about philosophy and to philosophers about programming. Another relevant introduction is My ‘Brown University Interviews’ on Emacs and life (2021-10-29). A comprehensive interview with InfoQ China on Emacs and life may also prove useful (2022-04-10).

On 2022-03-19 the Free Software Foundation awarded me the 2021 Award for Outstanding New Free Software Contributor. Check the announcement, which includes the video I prepared, the text of what I said, and a link to the FSF’s press release about these awards.

I also talk or write about philosophy without any reference to free software or related. Refer to my website’s section on books and standalone essays.

For a more personal take, check Comment on whether I have ASD. It is part of my website’s “commentary” section, which covers general life issues. There probably are other hints about me in that section, though this one is straightforward.

protesilaos.com

This website has been online since 2011. It contains more than 1000 entries on a wide range of topics, all of which are available under the appropriate copyleft terms that ensure end user freedom—see the license and resources page. Read, learn, think, and reach your own conclusions.

The report on Ten years of protesilaos.com (2021-02-08) might also be of interest, though note that I have since picked up pace and publish even more than before.

What I wrote in the past may not represent my current views. I review, change, refine my beliefs as part of a life of research and reflection. If you are looking for consistency, a dogma to follow, a narcissist to idolise, you need to look elsewhere. It is important to understand that you should not follow me, for I am not going anywhere in particular.

Content indices in English

In Greek

Also on

Note that my active Git repositories are on SourceHut (migrating there as of 2022-04-07). For select projects, mirrors are available on GitLab and GitHub.