The existential nature of open source software

Question: Why do men and women donate thousands of hours to project they don’t get paid for and no one coerced them into doing?

Answer: It satisfies an existential need for meaning open-source developers are adding to the canon of knowledge their thoughts that will power the achievements of future generations.

I know, at least for me, the pull of open source software is just wanting to make a difference. I know that I could do a lot of things to make a difference by volunteering around where I live in a co-op or something like that but open-source software is something that will that will continue to give back long after I’m no longer able to put energy into it.

It’s it’s something that will multiply for years and years, and when I’m thinking about ways to make an impact it seems more desirable to do something that will last far into the future and continue to be useful to a lot of people. The only way you can do that with knowledge and software is thought made real in a way that almost nothing else can match.