How I define myself

I am a secular humanist

The Quest for Truth is the most important mission of the human race to date. By finding the best approximations of the truth and making scientific predictions we make our lives better and happier. I am a rationalist, a Bayesian. I try to be sceptical about the ideas that surround me and question my beliefs. I am of the opinion that human life has the highest value of all things — as it encompasses them (in the sense that it allows us to experience them). Life is so full of new discoveries, small wonders and joys… And every single day we get closer to understanding how all of it works… That is truly fascinating.

I am a hacker

A hacker mostly in the original sense of the word (see Wikipedia article on the topic). Let us be frank here. We all know this: computers are cool. Practically all that our society produces these days is made with their help. I adore those infinitely complex machines that can compute at speeds that we cannot even begin to imagine. The design possibilities are also amazing. The interfaces of today are so beauteous and slick that they leave me overwhelmed. All this is possible because of computers. I love the freedom they give you. The control. Every single line of code. Every bit of information. All of it is controlled by the user on a truly free (libre) machine.

I am an optimist

No problem is insoluble in all conceivable circumstances. It is one rare case where the validity of the statement is not so important. Considering the inventiveness of the human mind and the randomness+complexity of the universe if you need to solve a problem, IMHO, it tends to be beneficial to believe that there is always a solution — as otherwise you cannot do anything, so doubting your abilities either equals hindering your progress or does not matter ∴ to maximise utility you need not lose hope. At least that is a good heuristic I try to use every day.

I am a programmer

{Code} is fun! OOP is neat, FP is divine. I love coding. Creäting new products and designing new interfaces, helping other people across the globe, collaborating, solving interesting problems, banging your head against the wall when bugs won't go away until (finally) getting rid of them — that is what life should be like. I am a pythonist. I love Python 3. I also sometimes write code in C++ and JavaScript.

I am a free (libre) software activist

To quote Linus Torvalds, Talk is cheap. Show me the code. Also it is said that given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow — a statement known as Linus's Law. Using FLOSS is a question of security, usability and freedom. I have a right to know what is happening on my machine — it is mine, and it should do what I tell it to do and no more. The code that only a few people edit is bound to be buggy (thus — the quality of proprietary software is low) and ∴ insecure (full of undiscovered vulnerabilities) — not even considering potential backdoors left by developers themselves. Moreover, I have a right to adjust my machine to my needs, as (occasionally) I need to modify the code et cetera. I fully support Richard Stallman's cause.

I am a digital privacy advocate and a cryptography enthusiast

Privacy is important. It is your life, and only you should decide which parts to share with others and which to leave to yourself.

I am a web-developer

Code the Web! HTML 5 is incredible. It (together with CSS 3) is just awesome and it is growing and evolving very fast. You can do very impressive things with it. Though the World Wide Web (in and of itself), IMHO, is stuck. To my mind, a true system for sharing and storing information globally should be decentralised (like IPFS ). I've made some minor contributions to the creätion of WebPlatform.org and consider following web standards to be very important.

What I enjoy (mainly)

• I enjoy reading books: classical literature and the best (‘classical’) SF (mainly — fantasy).
• I read poëtry for fun and sometimes learn it by heart just 'cause I like it. Yeah, such people exist. Who would have thought, huh?
• I play D&D, but with more logical puzzles and less combat.
• I like coding and designing apps.
• I get a kick out of learning new things (I often read good physics and mathematics books and articles).
• I delight in all things fantasy.
• I love GNU/Linux and enjoy tweaking settings in my OS etc. I am a hardcore GNU/Linuxoid.
• I relish doing science (or even ‘doïng’ it, if I am feeling especially pedantic at the time) and the idea of creäting something new.
• I enjoy proving things. Who doesn't? ;)