[Antonio Escohotado](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonio_Escohotado), one of my dearest intellectual heroes, died today 😢
He was a true erudite, a polymath, and a free soul.
He devoured the classics, opposed dictator Franco, was the fiercest of Communists, pioneered the hippy revolution in #Ibiza, travelled the world, studied and experimented with most drugs known to mankind, changed his views, lectured #philosophy, taught himself a few languages, became the most articulate #liberal, wrote the definitive tomes on a variety of scientific subjects, changed his views again, and shared it all along the way.
What I admire the most, though, is that he read everything under the sun. Primary sources, secondary sources, biographies, commentary. And he seemed to remember it all. #Escohotado set out to deeply understand something — be it #theGreeks, #drugs, #economics, #ChaosTheory — and damned studied every single relevant page there is about the subject, tirelessly, for years, until he emerged with the most robust of opinions about the topic, and a comprehensive view in the form of a new #book.
I am very inspired by him to always freaking read the classics, and the sources.
And I have always lamented that his fame in the English-speaking world wasn't commensurate with his many merits.
His last months were the chronicle of a death foretold: he chose to leave, and did so in his own terms, with dignity, in his beloved Ibiza.
I went to see him at public events here in #Madrid a couple of times. He was a giant, some unfortunate views or quotations notwithstanding.
I miss him already.
I am:
* #Andalusian
* #atheist
* #biker
* #blogger
* #cerebral
* #classicliberal
* #contrarian
* #curious
* #eclectic
* #effectivealtruist
* #engineer
* #essayist
* #European
* #father
* #geek
* #globalist
* #humanist
* #indecisive
* #individualist
* #introvert
* #Japanophile
* #Madrilenian
* #male
* #married
* #marathoner
* #musician
* #nerd
* #nudist
* #obsessive
* #painter
* #pianist
* #polyglot
* #oboist
* #procapitalism
* #procrypto
* #proFLOSS
* #programmer
* #rationalist
* #reader
* #runner
* #sceptic
* #scientist
* #shortsighted
* #shy
* #Spaniard
* #straight
* #strict
* #taken
* #traveller
* #urbanite
* #vegetarian
* #white
* #writer
* #41
For a long time I thought #programmers were unusually egocentric and annoying in our obsession with our own trade and tools: we dedicate inordinate attention to designing, rewriting and tweaking libraries, frameworks, plugins, etc _for our own, and our peers', usage_.
But most recently, I've realised that #journalists also love to discuss and criticise the #media; #musicians often write and sing about #songs and other #artists; so many #economists seem focused on #Economics and its tools (as opposed to their object of study); etc.
Perhaps we #technologists are not so unique after all…
@francistein @Lucasdepicher @Mastoporra
Era un verdadero sabio. Es una pena 😢
This is more or less how I spend the #money I earn
Happy #InternationalMensDay! This year focused on “better relations between #men & #women”.
#CognitiveBias interactive taxonomy — very handy:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cognitive_bias_codex_en.svg
@freemo Indeed! Some of these olive trees have been sitting here for several centuries :)
I always thought that helicopter parenting was when your kid screwed up, you take 'em up in a helicopter and tell them that if they screw up again, you'll push 'em out.
I know it's very much frowned upon nowadays, but I've resolved to adopt a “helicopter #parenting” style with my children.
That's when one jumps on a helicopter and flies away as far as possible from their #kids, right?
@niko hey, what happened to the old service `https://bird.nogafam.es/ID/rss`? Moved, or discontinued? Thanks!
@digital_carver Fixed. Thank you!
@freemo My bet: he blocked you, or this whole instance (or his instance blocked ours) because you are obviously a right-wing supremacist who runs this node where incels threaten the identity of minorities.Or something of the sort.
@freemo OK, I trust your judgement, so that's good to know about that person.
A list of #podcasts I (try to) listen to — or have listened to in the past — in case it's useful to someone out there!
Technologist, Spaniard, male, 42