Hackers
I’m continuing to read “Opensource: Technology and Policy” and have been surprised at the repeated references to the term “hacker”.
Noteably the term has not been used to portray a negative activity or undertone but as a more generalised descriptor of someone who is passionate about coding. And it’s struck me as interesting how narrowed the meaning of the term has become over time.
As Wikipedia’s article on the subject shows (”Hacker (computing)“), in reality the connotations of the term “hacker” are far more broad and subject to disagreement:
“The terms hacker and hack are marked by contrasting positive and negative connotations. Computer programmers often use the words hacking and hacker to express admiration for the work of a skilled software developer (but may also use them in a negative sense to describe the production of inelegant kludges). Some frown upon using hacking as a synonym for security cracking — in distinct contrast to the larger world, in which the word hacker is typically used to describe someone who “hacks into” a system by evading or disabling security measures.”
Disagreements on the history of the term seem to continue to this day, with a quick search for the word “hacker” on the web yielding a variety of thoughts on the subject. Some argue the negative connotation came first; some the benign connotation. Regardless, the negative connotation seems to be the most widely associated with the term - especially amongst non-techies and in particular, the media.
Certainly this sort of activity still exists, however hacking as an activity does not refer solely to the more disreputable spheres of computational endeavors.
Indeed as Chris Pirillo argues in his discussion “What are Hackers?“, hackers are needed to combat other hackers. Designing secure systems and robust software is as much about recognising threats and weaknesses as it is possessing solid coding skills. You need to know how to exploit a hole in order to plug it.
Even more than that though, hacking is about pushing the technological envelope and trying things that may not have been done before. In that sense “hacker” could just as easily mean “innovator” as “ne’er do well.”
Chris Pirillo’s discussion on “What are Hackers?” is included below:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3YvvaO5N-M]
References:
- “Hacker (computing)“, Wikipedia, accessed 6 May 2008
- “What are Hackers?“, Chris Pirillo, YouTube
May 9th, 2008 at 9:42 am
I reckon hacking has always been a bit subversive but as the tech industry has grown, some people have tried to sanitise it so that the bosses don’t feel so worried about it. I think programmers like to see themselves as edgy and a bit rebellious (even though they are all pussycats). On seeing a poorly structured piece of code we are simultaneously revolted and awed. We call it a hack because it breaks the rules but might admire it because it somehow works.
May 20th, 2008 at 4:49 pm
I was thinking of replying to your other post on Open Source community, but then came across this. Several years ago a Finnish philosopher Pekka Himanen caused major discussions (at least in Finland
with his book Hacker Ethics. He made a claim that recent years brought about a shift in people’s mindset: we are moving from protestant work ethic (work hard, so that you can earn your time off) to hacker work ethics (work and play is impossible to separate and you’re engaged in it all the time). He used examples of Finnish society (Linus Torvalds is a Finn, btw :), Silicon Valley and Singapore to illustrate his claims. It kind of remains an interesting snapshot of time, I think it presumed that the dotcom economy will go on (and we’ll continue having self-made teenage millioners), however, the economy (and our thinking) corrected itself and after all, I am not quite sure if there’s anything substantially new in this “hacker ethics” concept. Academic life has been this way since ages ago: you do things because you’re interested. The academic system is essentially based on reputation and desire to advance knowledge for the greater good of the society. Not too different from what Open Source community is doing, really?