Altruistic Academics

Published on Friday, 9th April 2021

The democracy activists requested that the video recording of their panel discussion not be posted on the conference website.

The conference organizers responded, ‘We’ll honor your request, exceptionally’. There were over 200 panels and it was impossible to attend every session. Recording the talks and posting them would allow speakers to reach so many more conference attendees.

The democracy activists thought, ‘Wait a minute. Why should we have to censor ourselves for fear of government reprisals, while other academics with less at stake could freely broadcast their views?' They had an idea. They hacked into the virtual repository where the conference videos were kept and remixed all the recordings, modifying voice and image so that it would be impossible to ever pin a name and face to a presentation.

All the attendees were delighted. Knowledge from the conference flowed openly like this, unencumbered by individual egos, career ambitions, and disciplinary boundaries. A generous meeting of minds!