My 'Brown University Interviews' on Emacs and life
I was interviewed by Kristoffer Balintona from Brown University about my participation in the free software and Emacs communities, as well as general themes related to university education and mountain life.
The publication is “Stand up and tell people that you cannot just be the red carpet upon which others will parade.” — Brown Interviews Protesilaos Stavrou.
Quote from the introduction:
Born in Greece in 1988, Protesilaos Stavrou is involved in the Linux (alternative to Windows and MacOS; an open-source operating system) and Emacs (extensible and versatile text editing software used by programmers, authors, bloggers, and more) communities. Stavrou is a philosopher; he releases video essays on YouTube and writings on his blog which blend distant philosophies related to free and open source software and Unix to law and politics. Stavrou has a formal education in European politics, law and economics, intellectually specializing in the European Union’s Economic and Monetary Union and having previously worked in politics-related fields including as a parliamentary assistant at the European Parliament.
In this interview we discuss his experience building a small yet loyal internet following, the philosophy of thinking for yourself and living on your own terms, the role of a university education, living in the mountains, and the facets of his humanity not often revealed online.
Thanks to Kristoffer Balintona for approaching me for a call and then transcribing the whole thing!
P.S. The picture in the interview is from April (I had to borrow a phone to take it). In other words, the beard is longer now :)