

Software, fear and witchcraft - petenixey
http://peternixey.com/post/41109124614/software-fear-and-witchcraft

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bones6
Your comment had just resurfaced in my brain and I saw this new headline and
came here and was pleasantly surprised to find exactly what I was looking for.

The original tribal shaman(plural) who used sleight of hand or small chemical
reactions cultivated society and truly invented ritual and religion, creating
a separation of power. Fear of the unknown and fear of power is precisely what
our culture is based on.

It underpins our entire society and government. Ritualistic religion goes hand
in hand with our culture, even if some of us are not part of it directly.

We can't escape it, and hacker culture will always be counterculture until
some great cataclysmic event occurs in our society. Those in power fear the
hacker, and the hacker (as we have tragically seen) fears those in power.

~~~
sageikosa
Sociologically, I would agree that religion is powerful stuff. I don't think
it is the basis for _all_ culture, if by culture you mean the sum total of
experience one is capable of experiencing with minimal effort.

However, just like one can experience religion without knowing how many angels
can dance on the head of a pin, one can experience technology without
understanding even the most basic layer below the UX level. In both cases, the
uncurious have a world-view unfettered by the constrictions of cause and
effect; so technology can seem like magic, and those outside the officially
sanctioned boundaries are both wise and "unsanctioned", and thus witches.

~~~
saraid216
I've long come to the conclusion that religion is a bootstrapping mechanism:
it was something we needed in the past in order to jump over a threshold, and
for the last thousand years or two, it's been obsolete and holding us back
instead.

~~~
bones6
This is what I am trying to say, but a good point to the parent commenter. To
clarify I would say that I was referring to how we got to where we are today.
The current power structure of our society. As I said even without direct
participation in religion there is a power structure evident in society vis a
vis a teacher and a pupil, a slave and a master, a husband and a wife, to name
a few controversial examples.

Not all of these are bad inherently, but some things about the world are
changing. A hacker wields mystical power of mythical proportions that
literally(don't we hate that word) scares the bejeesus out of the Power Elite.
They respond with prejudice and who can blame them. Those in power will never
willingly give it up.

Ethical or white hat hacking is just a foreign concept. They only see
potential abuses, and threats to their power.

~~~
saraid216
> As I said even without direct participation in religion there is a power
> structure evident in society vis a vis a teacher and a pupil, a slave and a
> master, a husband and a wife, to name a few controversial examples.

Don't forget white man and black man, cisgendered and trans, hetero and
homosexual, sexual and asexual. I'm guessing you stand on the side of the
powerful in at least one of these.

------
crb3
'Demystifying ourselves' meaning presenting our processes in a comprehensible
manner so as to educate the audience? I don't think that'll work, because
there are an awful lot of _them_ who have active disinterest in that learning
process, and plenty whose positions of power are dependent on that. Look at
Kansas, where it's not just WBC who're trying to forcibly simplify reality
with mob tactics. Look at DOJ -- do you think they _want_ to be reined in by
having the bright light of informed scrutiny shone on their methods?

It's already pitchfork o'clock, and has been for a very long time (see
'Copernicus'). Until that changes, it's not safe for any of us outside the
broom closet.

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JohnsonB
Unfortunately we can't make the modern technology-driven world simpler for
people like Carmen Ortiz. The advice at the end by the author is that _we_
(the tech community) should demystify ourselves. But, there's nothing to
demystify, the complexity is there and the only way to understand it is to
actually put the time in and learn it. It's not too much to ask that those
prosecuting computer crimes are deeply educated in the technical details.

------
ggchappell
> Take the legend of a chosen redhead. Even as a child he cast a spell so
> powerful it blanketed the entire world ....

Can anyone tell me what this is referring to? None of the web searches I tried
give me anything that seems to be helpful (most of them give me this article
as the first hit, and the only hit that is relevant).

~~~
petenixey
It was a reference to Zuck

------
andrewchoi
What is happening in the comments section?

~~~
RodgerTheGreat
A schizophrenic (and arguably brilliant) programmer who posts on HN, among
other places, from time to time: <http://qaa.ath.cx/LoseThos.html>

