

What is a Hacker? (1985) - Jach
http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~bh/hacker.html

======
giulivo
I like Stallman's idea of it more.

> Thus, hacking means exploring the limits of what is possible, in a spirit of
> playful cleverness.

It seems to me more appropriate, More effective, better descriptive, less
limiting.

Not that being a hacker means one also has to be good at writing what an
hacker is, but Stallman is showing some true hacker spirit here I think.

~~~
skrebbel
How does the posted article contradict that in any way? The description you
post is purely aesthetical (as defined in the article).

------
mathetic
The ambiguity in blackhat hacker vs. traditional MIT hacker is up for
discussion but there is a third kind of hacker that I cannot comprehend.

Why do we call people who develop user apps hackers. I mean if a person is
developing a web software with JavaScript, Rails and MySQL then it is not
really hacking. Those tools are designed for that purpose so they are not used
in a particularly clever/unexpected way to achieve a result. I mean if you are
emulating an old OS purely in JavaScript, then that's a neat hack because
that's certainly not what the language is designed for but a "location based
social network" does not really qualify, does it?

~~~
TeMPOraL
> _Why do we call people who develop user apps hackers_

Because a/ "hacker" was (is) a title that commanded respect, hackers were seen
as something special, and b/ business got wind of it. Once a term like that
enters business-speak, and then finds media attention, it's game over, the
term becomes meaningless.

So here we are, if you know how to tweak Rails or Android examples found on-
line and have above-room-temperature IQ, you're a "passionate rockstar web
hacker".

~~~
bsamuels
i'm still waiting for the browser plugin that replaces "hacker" with
"rockstar", but i dont think it will ever happen :(

~~~
TeMPOraL
Right there with that famous cloud-to-butt extension someone keeps mentioning
on HN all the time. I could use both.

~~~
DonHopkins
Is there a soup-to-nuts extension too?

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skrebbel
This article isn't really about the word "hacker". It's about using ideas from
moral philosophy to explain _the reasoning and actions_ of people who tend to
self-identify as hackers. It's about the people and their reasons, not about
the dictionary.

------
kator
Nice read but this turned me off:

> A tale of passionate love between 40-year-olds is more likely to be comic.

A bit ageist coming from someone who was 35 at the time. It seemed a bit like
he was romanticizing Hackers as only being young people that somehow need to
grow up later.

------
AlexanderDhoore
I don't think we can ever salvage the old meaning of the word. Hacker mostly
means "computer criminal" now. That is literally what official dictionaries
define it as: "a person who hacks into a computer system" [1].

But that's just the mainstream. We know what hackers really are, because we
are hackers. It's like a password. If you know what hacker really means, you
probably are one.

[1] [http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hacker](http://www.merriam-
webster.com/dictionary/hacker)

~~~
mbubb
I know it is a bit silly but I feel compelled at times to respond to and
correct news headlines like "Hackers Steal Bank Passwords". Conflating hacking
with criminal activity is another example of the depressing Prohibitionism
which is such a drain on the American psyche and which props up organized
crime and the militarization of everyday life.

There was a PBS kids show my kids watched a few years back:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyberchase](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyberchase)

Stupid as hell and despite the fact that it received science education grants
- had nothing to do with science. There was a character called the Hacker who
was like a Gargamel-ish character.

My boys eventually asked me why I didn't like the show and I had a parenting
moment where I explained to them what a hacker was - I used examples like
Leonardo da Vinci who did things that were considered illegal to advance
science (human disection, etc).

More recently we had the opportunity to go tot HOPE X in NYC. They learned
lockpicking and soldering and checked out the exhibits and books. And we had
the 'lockpicking is ok if the lock is yours' talk...

It is not that hard to make the distinction - I wish it were more prevalent.

------
jamra
The term 'Hacker' is a lot like the n-word. It's okay when we call each other
hacker, but when someone outside our community does it, we get offended.

It's time to let the word go. The meaning changes depending on who you speak
to. It's an exclusive word that needs to be marked obsolete.

~~~
elangoc
The n-word is the modern legacy of a history of 400 years of racism and
enslavement. Its modern usage originates from using the word to reinforce the
same economic and social oppression. That context exists for the n-word beyond
your 'baseline' racial epithet.

'Hacker' is different because it's a term that originated with a somewhat
positive connotation within and by a community, and got misinterpreted
negatively later by the outside.

Yes, the duality in assigning meaning to 'hacker' internally/externally does
share some similarity with a group/race-based slur that has been 're-claimed',
but obviously not entirely. The n-word seems like a particularly bad choice of
example, though.

~~~
jamra
I was making a parallel between using a word within a community when that word
has a different meaning from outside the community. The exclusion that comes
from using the word is the only point I was trying to make. I was hoping that
the history and origin of the word would not create some kind of epithet of
racism.

The discussion of something related to race is not racism in and of itself
just the same as the discussion of feminism is not misogynistic.

------
p4bl0
I like what is said until the paragraph on Steven Levy's work (the
antepenultimate one). This paragraph draws a conclusion that I don't agree
with, and more than that I'm not sure it can be drawn from what is said
before.

I see the aesthetic aspect of the hacker culture. Without being as explicit,
it is what RMS talks about in his similar essay (the one with the chopsticks
story) in my opinion.

However, denying the ethical aspect entirely is wrong. I see it as an equally
important part, and I fear that rejecting it entirely is a symptom of a
rejection of anything political, which is a behavior I can't understand, and
that I even find somewhat dangerous.

------
pajju
We need a Change.

Hacker should never mean a Cracker.

Cracking is illegal and brings a Negative Connotation. The Media still uses &
refers Hackers for Crackers too. Why so?

Hacker word should bring a Positive Connotation. Hackers are the change
makers: Working on Good & Great things.

There was a Change.org Petition: Asking media Companies NOT to use 'Hacker'
when they mean 'Cracker'
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7838663](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7838663)

What can we do to bring a change? Please share you Ideas. Let's do something.

~~~
unimpressive
'Cracker' is an invented term.

Like most invented linguistics, it didn't catch on, and it never will.

By contrast 'phreaker' fits the bill in many aspects.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phreaker](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phreaker)

Of course a lot of the time we're just referring to common criminals who know
how to download software off of some 'warez' BBS and use it for bank and
credit fraud.

I don't know what to call those people, but even 'cracker' gives them too much
credit.

~~~
qbrass
>I don't know what to call those people, but even 'cracker' gives them too
much credit.

Script kiddie.

------
mbubb
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgPIqOh9uTU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgPIqOh9uTU)

------
blueking
I am so so sick of this stupid hacker word. To me, hacker means immature loser
who would rather piss around breaking some cheap commercial software to
impress his naive peers than create something truly great with contemporary
technology. Its a word to describe the feeble minded. Don't think so ? Go to a
hacker convention. Fat kids in black tshirts smoking pot. Small minded people.
The mcdonalds of innovation. Of course they try to rubber stamp every tech
icon in the forehead with their tag. Fuck off, pretty please.

~~~
Blahah
Is there something inherently wrong with fat people in black t-shirts that
makes you think they're feeble minded?

~~~
skrebbel
A bit sad really, he would've had a pretty good point if he hadn't included
that line.

