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. I received it in my mail in late August 2022. Here is the announcement, which also includes all links to the backstory, as well as a video of me showing the physical item: https://protesilaos.com/codelog/2022-09-01-emacs-fsf-award/ (pictures too!).

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 some personal publications, check this non-exhaustive list:

These are part of my website’s “commentary” section, which covers general life issues. There probably are other hints about me in that section and in many other publications, though those are straightforward.

Some more somewhat personal entries from the “books and standalone publications” section:

[ These are non-exhaustive, but they should give you an idea. ]

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.

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

  • Books and essays :: This index includes items that are central to my work. It covers essays and video presentations. The content is philosophical.

  • Comments on life :: Here I post comments about general life issues. These typically are in response to an email I receive. The focus is on practical philosophy.

  • Interpretations and critiques :: In this section I blend the artistic with the philosophical, as I provide my interpretation of cultural works. The lessons to be learnt are philosophical and thus not limited to the art they reference.

  • Coding blog :: In this index I write and/or talk about free/libre software and related issues. It is my de facto blog for Emacs.

  • Politics blog :: Analyses on current affairs and/or political theory. Many entries concern the European Union.

  • Πολιτική :: Άρθρα πολιτικής που καλύπτουν κυρίως θεωρητικά ζητήματα.

  • Ατάκες και αστειϊσμοί :: Συλλογή από ατάκες, λογοπαίγνια, αστειϊσμούς, κι αληθινά ανέκδοτα της καθημερινότητας μου.

  • All publications :: Unfiltered list with all entries posted on this website.

For the available RSS/Atom links, refer to the feeds' information page.

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.