It really can't surprise you that a common viewpoint on HN is that `Information wants to be free'. This is both in a descriptive sense and a normative sense.
The descriptive sense obviously can't be selfish but the normative one can. So the question is then as follows: are the activists who further this narrative, out of a normative belief, selfish?
I personally don't think so. I believe that people like Aaron Swartz are among the most selfless people to ever exist.
I think that's a fair point, the motivations may not be selfish, but that's the expression. Maybe a better characterization of the motivations would be "naive". Nothing is free.
The descriptive sense obviously can't be selfish but the normative one can. So the question is then as follows: are the activists who further this narrative, out of a normative belief, selfish?
I personally don't think so. I believe that people like Aaron Swartz are among the most selfless people to ever exist.