💾 Archived View for tilde.pink › ~bencollver › heroes.gmi captured on 2022-03-01 at 15:16:30. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content
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Below is information about a few people who inspired me.
I feel a certain kinship with their ideals.
Michael Hart was a man ahead of his time. I became aware of Project
Gutenberg in the 1990's. I remember reading a newsletter where
Michael Hart wrote predictions for his project. I felt skeptical
about his ambitious projections for exponential growth in the number
of freely downloadable books. Though his predictions were not
immediately possible, they became possible thanks to improvements in
mass storage, Internet access, and the popularity of Project
Gutenberg. In my correspondence with Michael Hart, his writing struck
me as articulate and humble. He was willing to explain things without
talking down to me.
Michael Hart photos and writings
John Muir was a brilliant lad who aspired to be an inventor and work
with machines. He found work setting up machines in factories. He
experienced a series of accidents, and the last one left him blind.
Muir decided that if he did recover his sight, he would not return to
work in industry, but rather would travel the world... He followed
the callings of his heart. His writing clearly conveys his reverence
for nature.
"Like everybody else I was always fond of flowers, attracted by their
external beauty and purity. Now my eyes were opened to their inner
beauty, all alike revealing glorious traces of the thoughts of God,
and leading on and on into the infinite cosmos."
John Muir, saint of the American wilderness
Wikipedia article on John Muir
P.R. Sarkar came with a mission: planetary transformation. Through
his actions and teachings he inspired many people to take an active
responsibility for humanity's welfare. He worked to create ambitious
solutions. For example, AMURT provides disaster relief around the
globe. He also composed the Prabhat Samgiita, a collection of 5,018
sacred songs.
AMURT disaster relief organization
Wikipedia article on P.R. Sarkar
Jason Scott is an archivist who used to work as a Unix systems
administrator. His career was financially rewarding but ultimately
unsatisfactory. What he really enjoyed was his hobby preserving
artifacts of bygone BBS culture. Many would expect this to be a
labor of love and not a legitimate career. However, Jason wrote his
own job title and found employment as an archivist. Now he gets paid
to play all day long doing what he enjoys most.
Wikipedia article on Jason Scott
Opal Whiteley grew up in logging camps around Cottage Grove, Oregon.
She found it easier to befriend wild animals, flowers, and trees than
her human peers. She learned from direct observation. She attended
the University of Oregon in Eugene, and the professors wrote that she
had already acquired greater knowledge and understanding of botany
and geology than many of the university graduates. Her personality
was otherworldly. For example, one day she was late to class and was
found out on the lawn on her hands and knees, singing to an
earthworm. Apparently, the earthworm was enjoying it.
