Sci-Net

Hold up, doesn't this turn SciHub into a vehicle for transferring currency to its Russian ownership, and therefore to the Russian state? Is that not a feature of this cryptocoin?

Obligatory "I love SciHub and what it's accomplished for millions of people". But whatever Elbakyan's person character, she is still a citizen of a country that's at war.

edit: I'm not accusing Elbakyan's character or ideals in any way. Modern Russia is a state that functions like a mafia, that shakes down and extorts anyone with a whiff of money on them. Elbakyan lives in Russia—is subject to immense criminal pressure. It's a neutral observation that any windfall profits from a major coin-minting end up not funding servers, but funding the Russian army. Only a naïf could dispute that.

And she's not very noble to begin with.

If its ok to bribe the president with planes, who are we to judge for science

If "guilty by association" is to be applied evenly, we should do the same for genocidal countries like Israel, but that would be absurd. Also, I'm not sure, but I believe Elbakyan is actually a Kazakh citizen.

She honestly made the world a better place. Having access to scientific literature no matter where I am has certainly improved my life immensely.

She's Kazakh and lives in Kazachstan. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandra_Elbakyan

I didn't say that isn't true. But her as a person is not who I would want in charge of this "movement". Luckily sci-hub is not the leading source of free scientific articles anymore.

>Since 2011, she has been living in Russia.[10][11][12][13]

> I believe Elbakyan is actually a Kazakh citizen.

Yes, but living in Russia.

So is Snowden. Your point is?

Yeah, hard to dispute an auto-biography! Not actually a PDF but guess she didn't want to break the link: https://sci-hub.st/alexandra/bio.pdf

> she didn't want to break the link

That's what redirects are for!

Wikipedia:

> Elbakyan was in conflict with the liberal, pro-Western wing of the Russian scientific community.[8] According to her interview, she was attacked on the Internet by 'science popularizers' who supported liberal views that led to the shutdown of Sci-Hub in Russia in 2017 for a few days.[59] In particular, Elbakyan was strongly critical of the former Dynasty Foundation (shut down in 2015) and its associated figures. She believes that the foundation was politicized, tied to Russia's liberal opposition, and fit the legal definition of a "foreign agent".

> She has also done work on religion,[57] and has argued that Stalin was a god of science, and an incarnation both of the god Thoth and the Christian God.[58]

Idk but this sounds so sus that I don't believe her with anything. Arguing that Stalin was good is very similar to arguing that Hitler was.

> I'm not accusing Elbakyan's character or ideals in any way.

It really seems like you are though. The linked page says the transaction is between the article requester and the article contributor, and that she's not taking any money, even to support the platform. So, it seems like you're saying she's lying about that.

what's the leading source nowadays?

anna's archive, one would assume.

Anna's Archive

Doesn't Anna's Archive have Sci-Hub as one of its main sources? If so, claiming it's lucky this is an alternative to Sci-Hub doesn't make a lot of sense.

> She has also done work on religion,[57] and has argued that Stalin was a god of science, and an incarnation both of the god Thoth and the Christian God.

I took the time to follow the link and read her very short essay on Stalin the God and it's very clearly parody and an attempt at absurdist humor. Russians and Kazakhs can do dry/straightfaced humor as well as the Brits.

Misrepresenting the essay as her honest beliefs is like arguing Monty Python really cannot tell a dead parrot from a live one.

> But her as a person is not who I would want in charge of this "movement"

Why not? She seems to have done a great job.

If the FSB is leaning on her to do things under threat of violence, it's not a reflection on her ideals. I've emphasized this distinction as clearly as I possibly could. You cannot say "no" to goons with baseballs bats—read up on why Pavel Durov "quit" VK, and fled Russia [0].

Russia is not a free country where you can, just, idealistically handle large amounts of cryptocurrency as you please. It's literally a mafia state! They take what they want! Foreign currency, and in particular cryptocurrency, is a priority for that war regime right now. Huge targets on the backs of anyone associated with things like this.

[0] https://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/03/technology/once-celebrate... ("Once Celebrated in Russia, Programmer Pavel Durov Chooses Exile (nytimes.com)" (2014))

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8686868

> "When a SWAT team appeared at Pavel Durov’s door in St. Petersburg, he started thinking about his future in Russia."

> "He was home alone, and he peered at them through a monitor."

> "“They had guns and they looked very serious,” said Mr. Durov, once Russia’s biggest celebrity entrepreneur. “They seemed to want to break the door.”"

Yeah I wonder what's the backstory there, Anna' is Sci-Hub founder no? Guessing Anna's Archive is some kind of community fork? Idk

If Snowden suddenly launched a cryptocurrency now the same skepticism would be prudent.

They use the sci-hub dump yes. But sci-hub isn't providing new articles so nothing new is sourced from sci-hub.

Providing missing context to the conversation.

But given that we know nothing about the person calling themselves "Anna", how can you be sure it's better than Sci-Hub? Maybe this Anna is also living in Russia.

What's wrong with Sci-Hub, anyway? (Other than it not being updated anymore, of course).

(Shrug) If her support for Stalin and Russkiy Mir in general is parody, she fooled me.

Elbakyan comes across as ten pounds of crazy in a five-pound bag, but that doesn't mean she isn't doing awesome, vital work.

(Read until the end, I'm merely commenting on the Stalin God thing, I do agree some things are weird).

I just read it, and the excerpts, the random images she chooses to include in it, the straightfaced giant leaps in logic (Thoth was the Egyptian god of knowledge, the Christian god came from the Middle East, therefore they -- and Stalin -- are one and the same), all reek of something that could have been posted in Something Awful.

I mean, come on:

> Hence Stalin was not just an ancient pagan god - but he was that God christians believe in. In a critical moment for the country and for the whole humanity he came down to Earth, wearing a cool mustache avatar, and restored the order: he revived economics and created the powerful science. He created a communist paradise for righteous people, while bad people were sent to GULAG. He won the war against the evil forces of Hitler, and even restored Israel, as he promised to do long time ago.

"Wearing a cool mustache avatar"? You really believe she wrote this in earnest?

Russians have a warped sense of humor. Though I suppose in this day and age, it's impossible to tell when someone is being sarcastic on the Internet ;) I know I can't anymore!

Edit: I do admit her subjects of interest are all over the place though. I'll grant you that!

Anna is anonymous, they haven't disclosed much about themselves.

Alexandra is the founder of Sci-Hub.