Comment by hagbard_c
21 hours ago
Tell me, oh sage, how it was possible to become a hacker before "capitalism" created the computers needed to do so? And no, hacking was not "an extremely political and ideological movement", it was (and is) the a[c,r]t of going down as deep the rabbit hole of whatever the was to be hacked as time and the hole allowed to see what lurks there. The term was eventually co-opted by the media - not "capitalism" - to identify those who broke into networks and computers but that does not need to bother you. There have been and are those who combine - usually anti-authoritarian - politics with hacking but they were and are only a part of the whole.
Don't you ever get tired of spouting that grade school "muh capitalism bad" pablum, of being what Lenin supposedly called a "useful idiot"? Also, who are the "we" who you think should "take back" the word hacking? In what way would this be "taking back" instead of "taking over"? If you think it should be "extremely political and ideological" it would surely be the latter. Would your definition of hacking have room for those who dared to venture beyond your "extremely political and ideological" boundaries or those who just want to hack without needing to wear the right buttons, pins and clothes?
Signed, a grey-bearded hacker.
The hacker philosophy did not even start with computers, it started with rail models and lock picking. Read a book every now and then.
And please don't fall in the trap that capitalism created things. Science and engineering creates things. Capitalism makes them more accessible, at a price that is often heavily confounded by externalities.
Ah yes, I knew someone would go there, though 'shall I mention that hacking did not start with computers nor with railways but when the first person with a suitable frame of mind dedicated himself to getting the best axe or arrow head out of a piece of flint no matter how much effort it would take' but decided against it, surely they'd understand? Clearly not. Read a book indeed, preferably more than one.
How does 'science and engineering' create things without the funds and the drive to do so? How do you think science-as-a-profession got started?
Stop throwing about those silly slogans - muh capitalism bad - and start thinking for real. Realise that you're able to discuss on this here site thanks to 'capitalism'. If you want to play revolutionary that's fine but at least realise what it is that gives you the opportunity do to so.