Damn. This quote from Linus Torvalds is... well... damning.
In response to a discussion around use of generative AI as it relates to contributions to the Linux code base, Linus (creator and lead contributor to Linux) firmly states that AI contributions are welcome.
But then he goes on and concludes with this:
"The kernel project has been and will continue to be about the technology.
Sure, the social angle of working on open source is important and often a very motivating part of the project, but in the end that's a side benefit, not the _point_ of the project.
This is *NOT* some kind of "social warrior" project, never has been, and never will be.
In the kernel community we do open source because it results in better technology, not because of religious reasons.
And so we make decisions primarily based on technical merit. Not fear of new tools.
Linus"
A lot of us are on Linux specifically because of the social and political positives. Closed source is control. Open source is democracy.
Linus doing the typical tech-bro "i don't think of politics, I only think of tech" harkens back to any number of "science without ethics" atrocities.
Linus is and has always been a tech-bro (or proto tech bro). He has his throne of power and is happy where he is. Other tech-bros want money and influence. They're all the same.
But Linus is wrong.
Tech is politics.
And his stance and guiding influence with Linux is wrong.
Linus just made a political statement and has shifted the politics and societal approach of Linux.
@tinker The end result will be predictable. At some point some dufus will create a pull request with some terrible/dangerous LLM created code that manages to slip past review and the Linux community will pay the price.
This is the reality of tech-bro leadership.
