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Hacker Lexicography

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by epepke

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I've come to think that there are two main definitions of hacker. I had been concentrating on definition (2), one who hacks. There's also definition (1) which harkens back to the first definition I heard at MIT, one who is passionate about doing something.

A hacker (1) appreciates computers as an intellectual challenge and an art form and feels joy from working with them. ((1) subsequently omitted).

It seems to me that there are a lot of non-hackers, even in IT. These people may use computers, but they do not see beauty in them or feel joy from working with them. They may derive a certain amount of enjoyment, but no true joy, and the enjoyment is likely to be peripheral: the money, the things one can get done, the feeling of "professionalism." A hacker actually loves working with computers; a non-hacker does not.

Hypothesis: the demonization of hackers and the constant confusion with crackers may be due to a distrust on the part of non-hackers toward hackers, a feeling that they must be aberrant, crazy, or inhuman and are therefore "other." Though these people may see nothing wrong with feeling joy at driving a car or playing an instrument, the computer belongs to a special class of machine that they fear and/or loathe, and the people who love them must be bad.

Incidentally, people have objected to the word "cracker," claiming that "hacker" was the original term. Not so. "Cracker" seems clearly a back-formation of "safecracker," which has been around formore than a century. "Computercracker" is a bit much for the tongue, so it is shortened.

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by admin

Everyone who loves what they do is a Hacker. That is the real evil behind the would be creators of OS's and programs that do not allow experimentation. They are bringing about a group of technicians who love the money and power, but not the actual field. Still, when it comes down to lean times, they'll take their trucks off to a new sandpile and we'll still be trying to squeeze that last ounce of joy and performance from everything we touch ;>

Cracker has always been seperate from Hacker, but both are not moral terms.I hate the Black Hat/ White Hat debate too. It is so stupid. Do we have White Hat / Black Hat drivers? or bartenders? or accountants? No.
There are criminals in all these fields too, but no one demonizes all accountants just because some pilfer money.
Basically, it's not really unlike the view of towards "motorists" in the early auto days. Not everyone could make a car work well, so folks hated those "darn noisy devilspawned devices" cavorting around.

by generalist

Maybe we should do a semantic analysis of the hacker/cracker setup and figure out an alternative term that covers the topic and allows 'hacker' to drift back to its original meaning.

It is possible to shift the popular means of words IF you have the proper environment. A million or so IT people using a term the 'right' way is a start. So would a big time movie, say "The Hacker Versus the Cracker". (To be written by???)

Having a catchy phrase or word also helps. ComputerCracker could be morphed into CompuCracker...

I've noticed the phenomena of how a phrase can become popular with usage. There are times when I sometimes wonder if I helped start the phrase "Have a good one!" back in the mid 1980s. (I got tired of "Have a nice Day" so I decided to use my phrase so the person hearing it could 'customize' it for their circumstances...)

by epepke

I like your ideas and would enjoy them, but I don't feel good about the long-term.

The problem isn't really the word; it's the attitude. There has long been a stupidity chic that is never far from the surface. Consider that scientists in films are nearly always portrayed as mad or at least antisocial, and computers in films are usually portrayed as maleficent demons. Any alliance between the two must necessarily resonate on at least an unconscious level with these feelings.

The perception of hackers is just a symptom of this anti-intellectual attitude, which also causes problems like the largely successful elimination of science teaching in K-12, the dismantling of the American industrial infrastructure, the loss of any semblance of political integrity, etc.

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