What differentiates hackers from the general population? Is it perhaps above average intelligence, a higher level of curiosity, maybe tinkers, and/or possibly i

What differentiates hackers from the general population? Is it perhaps above average intelligence, a higher level of curiosity, maybe tinkers, and/or possibly individuals who are interested in all sorts of interesting stuff? If that is roughly the definition, then I suppose there would be general news but of a novel, or intellectually interesting nature. If, on the other hand, by hacker you mean programmer, and by non general news you mean only news related to programming, wouldn't that be slightly too narrow? I think technology news are dominant here, but the variety now and then I think is a good thing.