[LUAU] Linux-Hackers-onMac

Jim Thompson jim at netgate.com
Sun Apr 23 01:01:23 PDT 2006


On Apr 22, 2006, at 12:33 PM, Karen Lofstrom wrote:

>
> I was under the impression that "hacker" came from "neat hack" used  
> as a term of approbation for a program, or a method, that achieved  
> superior results with nothing more than an improved algorithm.  
> Supposed to have been used at MIT by members of the model train  
> club that got involved in computer (Stephen Levy, _Hackers_)

Hackers are those who espouse and behaves according to the hacker  
ethic.   In my mind, ESR gets it completely wrong: http:// 
www.catb.org/jargon/html/H/hacker-ethic.html, but those of you who  
know me will anticipate that I think ESR is a huge loose.
The term "hacker ethic" was coined by journalist Steven Levy and used  
for the first time in his book, "Hackers: Heroes of the Computer  
Revolution". In Levy's book,  the hacker ethic is in large parts  
based on the values of the "old school" hackers at MIT Artificial  
Intelligence Laboratory.   (The model railroad (not "model train")  
club grew into the Lincoln Lab, not AI.   To this day TMRC has a  
different definition for "hacker" (http://tmrc.mit.edu/hackers- 
ref.html))

Among the hackers profiled by Levy was Richard M. Stallman, whom Levy  
at the time called "the last true hacker".   RMS doesn't like the way  
the book came out, so you may want to draw your own conclusion.

In Levy's summary, the principles of the Hacker Ethic are:

Access to computers—and anything which might teach you something  
about the way the world works—should be unlimited and total. (Always  
yield to the Hands-on Imperative!)
All information should be free.
Mistrust authority—promote decentralization.
Hackers should be judged by their hacking, not bogus criteria such as  
degrees, age, race, or position.
You can create art and beauty on a computer.
Computers can change your life for the better.
More recently, in 2001, Finnish philosopher Pekka Himanen publshed a  
Manifesto opposing the hacker ethic with Protestant work ethic. In  
Himanen's opinion the hacker ethic is closer related to the Virtue  
ethics found in the writings of Plato and of Aristotle.  I quoted  
from this book in my October "open pizza" presentation.

Himanen's 'The Hacker Ethic' illustrates some of the commonly held  
philosphies of hacker ethic. With the hacker ethic itself  typically  
birthing a discussion arising in reference to the definition of a  
hacker as an individual capable and willing to infiltrate, exploit,  
or otherwise bypass security restrictions for some purpose. It is the  
intentions of the hacker, and their purpose which are deemed either  
ethical, or unethical based on the so called hacker ethic.

Hackers themselves tend to have little patience for incompetence.   
Thus, were one to damage a system in an attempt to infiltrate it,  
even with good intentions, it may be considered unethical by the  
hacker community in that an individual without the necessary skill to  
accomplish the task at hand none-the-less attempted it (and failed).

Right now I think the "Merrie Monarch Festival" is as important as  
anything in the computer world.


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