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Precision of language, definitions, and meaning seems to dilute as words gain more widespread usage. Eventually the word becomes a hollow symbol meaning multipl
by ryandv 3y ago
Precision of language, definitions, and meaning seems to dilute as words gain more widespread usage. Eventually the word becomes a hollow symbol meaning multiple different things to different people, with the intersection between those meanings growing ever narrower.
- ijhuygft776 3y agothats probably true, but sometimes, their meaning can become almost the opposite... take hacker for example... I think that it started as something good.
- neuromanser 3y ago> take hacker for example... I think that it started as something good. … he wrote on a site called Hacker News that is not focussed on unauthorized computer access :)
- aspenmayer 3y ago> take hacker for example... I think that it started as something good. You just reminded me of one of the earlier uses of “hacker” in popular culture that I’m aware of - They Live (1988) - one of the vagrant guys in the homeless encampment referred to the interference upon the analog TV broadcast as being the work of a hacker: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1V-4JHT2q3w https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1V-4JHT2q3w This fictional hack may be inspired by actual events from a year earlier: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Headroom_signal_hijacking https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Headroom_signal_hijacking I remember one of the kids in the film Jurassic Park referring to themselves as a hacker, but this time in a positive light. Not sure if that line was in the original book, or if that was an addition for the movie.