Interview with Gangolf Jobb, the Author of Treefinder
Dear Readers,
After sanctioning poor countries around the world, the USA/EU-stanians got taste of their own medicine in a small way, and they do not like it at all. Some of you forwarded us this link from Science magazine about Treefinder. After doing minimal due diligence, it seemed obvious to us that the Science story was full of lies, and Gangolf Jobb was protesting against the endless warfare of USA, also supported by many EU governments. Also, based on the same Science news, Sandra Baldauf came across as a greedy, exploitative lady. The tenure system was originally created to make sure the academics could complain against the injustices conducted by their funders without getting fired, but now the academic parasites get money from various government agencies and never bother to complain against government policies (such as - Doctors Without Borders airstrike: US alters story for fourth time in four days). Why should the public pay for permanent jobs and pensions of people like Sandra Baldauf?
Anyway, those are our own opinions. To hear the views of Gangolf Jobb and Sandra Baldauf, we emailed both of them asking for interviews or comments. We are happy to share with you the replies of Gangolf Jobb, the author of Treefinder, about his decision to make recent license change. We believe his form of peaceful protest should be praised and not criticized. Baldauf did not bother to respond.
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_Hello Gangolf,
I came across your website after reading about the recent license change notice of treefinder. Thanks for agreeing about the interview in our blog.
1. Please tell us a bit about the unique features of treefinder and why researchers like to use it._
Gangolf: Treefinder is fast and convenient, and is using maximum-likelihood. It does not only compute a tree quickly, but also displays it when finished, together with the measures of support. It also provides some other analyses, which are useful in the context, such as the estimation of divergece times, also with measures of support. It also allows hypothesis testing and model selection. Without Treefinder, one would have to use several different programs from different authors, which are not always compatible, neither with their data formats nor with their models and methods used, and each comes with a different user interface one must first get used to. Treefinder saves the researcher time and nerves.
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2. In Feb, you wrote - “Starting from 1st February 2015, I do no longer permit the usage of my TREEFINDER software in the USA”, and now you are banning the EU countries. Would you please explain your decision to our readers?
Gangolf: This is a long story. I am unemployed since 2004, after I left Korbinian Strimmers group at the University of Munich. He shortened my salary every few months until it was not acceptable by me any more. Three years earlier I left Arndt von Haeseler’s Group at the Max-Planck-Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, mainly also because of the miserable salary I got there.
When I was unemployed, I continued developing my Treefinder program, and Treefinder became more and more popular. I expected that someone would offer me a decently paid position for continuing my work, preferably at my then home place Munich, given that Treefinder was quite popular - but nobody did. Every possible employer I asked was only interested in his or her own project, not in supporting mine. Moreover, everyone would have at most paid me the same miserable salary.
So, I started my protest against the academic system, because it denies young researchers a reasonable long-term income at their respective home places, something that enabled them to escape from paying rent and buy a home and raise a family. Instead, the system invites immigrant scientists to keep the institutes full and the salaries low. I had severe doubts. I sent thousands of emails to members of the academic system in which I criticized them - and Treefinder became the counter-example in my campaign: look, an unemployed young researcher without a PhD title can do better than all of you well-paid professors, and better than all of the immigrant programmers you hired. Your system must be wrong! - This was my true motivation to make Treefinder the best program available, and I put a huge effort into that.
At least initially I thought it was that simple - namely that the academic system was simply too chintzy and promoted all of this mobility of scientists only to keep the salaries low. But then I read in the internet, in the alternative media, that the European countries were being controlled or at least strongly influenced by the USA, and that the USA were pursuing a not so well-known globalization plan. Globalization, in their view, means americanisation, the destabilzation of competing powers, and the creation of a global profitable new society. They want to rule and exploit the whole world. More precisely, a small elite in the USA wants to, not the American people. The promotion of world-wide migration is part of their plan. They even start wars just to generate enough migration. They are trying to destroy the world’s nations, because nations would defend themselves against foreign rulers. A world of migrants, on the other hand, would not care much who ruled. And this is not a conspiracy theory, it is written in books by leading US-ideologists, e.g. Barnett, Brzezinski. Especially in those books that must not be translated into foreign languages. See also:
EU should ‘undermine national homogeneity’ says UN migration chief
The Pentagon’s New Map: PowerPoint Presentation
DER NICHT MEHR GANZ SO GEHEIME GLOBALISIERUNGSPLAN DER USA
Die Welt als Schachbrett - Der neue Kalte Krieg des Obama-Beraters Zbigniew Brzezinski
U.S. State Department Actively Promoting Islam in Europe
wikileaks - EMBASSY PARIS - MINORITY ENGAGEMENT STRATEGY
The Americanized world that USA is trying to establish would be very bad for me. I do not want to be ruled by them, I do not want to migrate. I do not want to be ‘profitable’. So I declared sanction against the USA and certain EU countries.
Besides the academic system does not deserve to use my software, because it has not supported me.
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3. Do you generally agree with Kai Kupferschmidt’s reporting in Science magazine - “Scientist says researchers in immigrant-friendly nations can’t use his software” published in Science about your decision (http://news.sciencemag.org/europe/2015/09/scientist-revokes-software-license- protest-immigration-friendly-policies)?
Gangolf: Kai’s article is very biased. A first version of his article contained several lies about me and my work, which unfortunately had been copied by others and then spread in the internet before I managed to get the lies removed. I am sure he did it deliberately. This is very bad journalism.
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4. As it it is obvious to anyone with a functioning brain, the Americans created mess all around the Middle East and are asking the Europeans to suffer from it. Why aren’t the academics standing behind you then? For example, the Science article linked above quoted Sandra Baldauf of Sweden saying - “I’d say not being able to use Treefinder would be no great loss to anyone”. Based on what I read, Sweden is a mess due to refugee problem (http://www.acting- man.com/?p=40183).
Gangolf: Academics are being selected by the system for fitting into the system.
A recent job offer on evoldir contained the following: “ … We seek candidates who embrace and reflect diversity in the broadest sense. … “. That clearly excludes people like me.
Public opinion world-wide is strongly being influenced by the powerful elite, mostly from and through the USA:
wikileaks - EMBASSY PARIS - MINORITY ENGAGEMENT STRATEGY
I should mention that by far not all scientists are against me. I have received numerous emails congratulating me for the license change.
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5. Linh Dinh maintains an excellent photojournalism blog showing pictures of collapse of USA. A few days back, he wrote this about the refugee crisis in Germany and Europe, and it appears to be more honest assessment than the mainstream media. What are your thoughts on it?
Gangolf: I haven’t read it. Maybe tomorrow.
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6. What are your thoughts on European sanctions against Russia, as forced by US government?
Gangolf: European governments are being controlled or influenced by the USA.
This man, Egon Bahr, a former senior member of the German government, has admitted that:
Drei Briefe und ein Staatsgeheimnis
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7. I noticed a number of interesting projects in your website in the ideas section. Would you please tell our readers about your work on them?
They are my inventions that I find useful. They also serve as counter-examples in my campaign.
