Comments on: Meaning of Hack

By: Alex

Alex — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 09:21:01 +0000

Rjp, I didn’t know that, thanks.

By: Alex

Alex — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 09:18:01 +0000

Perhaps Paul Graham was in some closed community of computer science research isolated from the cross-disciplinary, collaborative communities I have seen, where incremental advance is the norm. I’m afraid I can’t explain it better than that, despite owning a copy of ‘on lisp’.

Well done for being a libertarian, I’m afraid you’re looking at a very large, diverse and global set of communities through some rather strange glasses though.

By: Josh

Josh — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 01:08:43 +0000

I find it interesting that you accuse Paul Graham of ignorance regarding academic research. I would hesitate to levy such criticism, as he does have a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Harvard. He has spent a good chunk of his life swimming in academic water. Read “On Lisp” to see his more theoretical self.

Also, if I have to choose between you and ESR on political leanings of the hacker community, I think I’ll have to go with him. There is a strong libertarian bent to much of the hacker community, which probably balances out the strong communist wing. I don’t really think “moderate” means anything, since the standard deviation is pretty wide from my vantage point.

By: rjp

rjp — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 23:45:12 +0000

You do know that “dork” is slang for penis, right?

By: jag

jag — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 17:15:08 +0000

sweet post alex.

apparently u also have to develop a liking for chinese food, be good at crosswords / puzzle-solving, vi or emacs etc etc

oh well i will never be a hacker.

By: Alex

Alex — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 15:55:15 +0000

Yes true Edgar. I’ve had a great time at Cyberpipa and c-base, and heard good things about the London hackspace. Also great that orgs like MzTek exist to work towards more diverse communities…

By: Edgar

Edgar — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 15:38:11 +0000

Here’s where today’s generation is keeping your version of the word alive: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hackerspace

By: Alex

Alex — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 08:53:56 +0000

Hey Les,

Yes good point about US politics, my post is definitely from the point of view of a left wing European heavily influenced by North American culture.

I thought about mentioning Stallman but he’s an interesting character and I didn’t want to make this post any longer. I love Stallman. I haven’t looked into his broader politics, but his emphasis in free software on collective responsibility, his distrust of corporate control, and his disinterest in money makes me think of him as a socialist. I could be wrong. Whatever, what Stallman has achieved, through sheer determination and without a jot of compromise, is simply incredible. ESR has watered down free software into his open source twaddle, but Stallman is still pushing for freedom.

alex

By: Les

Les — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 23:07:23 +0000

This is a really good post, which I suspect I may cite in the future!

One thing that struck me is that it seems like all of the hackers you mention are American (or at least in America). This certainly would play a role in how they identify politically and their general position on things, as the centre in the US is fairly far to the right in comparison to Europe’s centre. For example, the glorification of startups seems to be ideologically neutral in the US. (They need constant glorifying because they have terrible hours, pay and benefits and only excitement / chances of riches could justify the work.)

How do you feel about Richard Stallman? He also seems fairly right/libertarian to me, but is much less a nutcase than Raymond.

By: rukano

rukano — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 21:42:57 +0000

I agree with your views, even if I am younger and never been in the hacker “scene”. But I did observed the phenomenon and the constanly changing meaning of the word hacking or hacker, obviously adapted to their own image/purpose… It’s like people proclaiming themselves as punks because they dress like the punk prototype, ignoring the freedom/absence of style this kind of wave contains. Self-proclaimed titles are senseless… Just another way to try to fit/misfit into society or a subculture. If they care about freedom they should do they own thing and not follow a file, dictionary or etiquette and label themselves just to ‘be a part of it’.