Re: Ballot option: Debian is created by humans

Hi Holger,

On 2026-08-13 01:44, Holger Levsen wrote:
> On Wed, Aug 12, 2026 at 09:34:49PM +0200, Christian Kastner wrote:
>> [...] Look at China, and Chinese companies, for example: China has and
>> is rolling out mind-boggling(!!) amounts of alternative energy. China
>> doesn't want to be dependent on fossil fuels, which they have to mostly
>> import. China has made solar dirt-cheap. [...]
>  
> are you aware of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jevons_paradox ?
> 
> Learning about it made me really quite depressive. Sadly not in a funny way at all.
not just aware; I'm 100% convinced that it applies here. It's just too
useful. (And I don't mean to us developers, I mean to the populace at
large. Again, for most people, AI delivers a substantial amount of
empowerment.)

Which is one of the reasons why I think it would outright wrong for us
to stay out of this. Instead, we should actively influence and shape the
development of this technology.

If we want to change the path the world is on, I think our best strategy
would be to deliver an operating system that delivers such a good local
model ease-of-use experience that people will prefer that solution to
the big players. For example, it's not as if European companies want to
be existentially reliant on foreign companies subject to foreign
politics, they just have little alternative.

We can help with that alternative, and that alternative can make a impact.

A far, far greater impact than the rejective approach, which will maybe
make us personally feel warm and fuzzy for a little bit, but will
otherwise do nothing other than contribute to our long-term decline. If
Debian in 1995 had declared "we won't do the Internet", that would not
have been the end of the Internet, that would have been the end of Debian.

My personal goal would be for us to deliver something in the next 2-3
years that allows companies to run all their AI needs locally. Not just
making them independent from the big players and from foreign politics,
but giving them the ability to run their operation in an environmentally
friendly way.

And Debian could demonstrate this by example.

Best,
Christian