Modern values of hackers (week 12)

 Pekka Himanen has defined seven values of the modern hacking world in his "Hacker Ethic". Let's discuss how practical they are.

  • Passion - this is a really important value. Passion is the core and heart of any activity. However I would say, that this value is not really practical. Plenty of people (and I assume hackers) are passionate about one thing (or project) or another but might never get involved.
  • Freedom - I think this is the true core value of  hackers. Hacking means first and foremost exploring something and not necessarily exploiting. I believe that it is really hard to "hack" anything without freedom because it would just mean that there is no creativity involved, you just abide the rules and might only find some bugs lying on the surface but not the hidden ones.
  • Work ethic - In my opinion this one is also really important and practical. Without diligently working through system or code and dedicating vast amount of your time, none of the goals can be achieved.
  • Money ethic - This one is trickier. On one hand, it is so cool to read stories about cyber Robin Hoods who take from wealthy or create something important and donate to charities or to those in need. However, a person still has to make his living somehow. I guess, to be practical, the balance has to exist somewhere in between giving everything (or not taking anything) and making profits. 
  • Network ethic - I think that similarly to how all inhabitants of the real world should strive to follow ethical guidelines, inhabitants of the Net should follow netiquette as well. Otherwise we would just have chaos.
  • Caring - This a tricky one. Caring too much and you can turn into cyber vigilante or terrorist. Caring too little can mean that maybe this is unsuitable project or field for you. As for practicality, I think that the "caring" part probably is the most complex and needs balance.
  • Creativity - This is obviously is really important and practical value. Without creativity it's hard to confront any system and I think that hacking heavily requires thinking outside of the box.

In general, I think that Himanen captured the important values quite well.

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