Why Hackers Won’t Save the World And That’s a Good Thing. - Jaromil Dyne.org

Tue, Dec 2, 2025, 12:00 AM

Hacker & philosopher Jaromil director of Dyne.org unpacks 20+ years of free/open-source building: from Linux distros and encryption tools to European research on identity, data privacy, and circular economy. We talk fun (yes, dance), burnout, why privacy is personal integrity, the comfort trap of spyware-by-default devices, today’s cypherpunk (powered by an explosion in applied cryptography), and a hopeful future where humans still understand machines - not the other way around. Timecodes 00:00 – Introduction: Who is Jaromil? Hacker, philosopher & Dyne.org director 01:03 – What Dyne.org Does: Free & open-source software, interdisciplinarity & sustainability 03:40 – Optimizing Code, Not Hardware: Making software efficient and long-lasting 05:30 – Dyne.org Projects Overview: Linux distros, encryption tools, EU research, and community 06:45 – Why Fun Matters in Privacy: Avoiding burnout & keeping joy in hacker culture 07:50 – Purpose Over Tech: Building software for people, not for hype or “tech for tech’s sake” 09:30 – Philosophical View on Privacy: Integrity, safe space, and friendship as privacy in action 11:00 – Privacy as Resistance to Self-Censorship: Why privacy enables growth and authenticity 12:30 – How the Web Changed: From early hacker culture to comfort-driven surveillance 15:20 – The Spyware Normalization: Why convenience made us accept being tracked 17:40 – Cypherpunk Today: Disillusionment, creativity, and the new wave of applied cryptography 21:20 – Bright Future (and Its Risks): Determinism, AI, and keeping humans in control of machines 23:50 – Closing Thoughts: Hope, awareness & keeping the hacker spirit alive .. This conversation is part of Privacy Academy Interviews – a peer-to-peer knowledge project exploring the most important ideas in Web3, privacy, and digital freedom. Learn more: https://academy.web3privacy.info A W3PN Media House production. Directed by Federico Marchi https://x.com/BabyBitProd Interview by Peter Farbey https://x.com/0xfarbey Let privacy be with you!