4 ms·

I think it has a lot to do with these words and the sentiment behind them. The childen of that era (like the author) have grown up, and through their experience

by RobAley 14y ago

I think it has a lot to do with these words and the sentiment behind them. The childen of that era (like the author) have grown up, and through their experiences and determination helped to shape a world where we can learn, explore, develop, interact and hack on things, like they did, but in a more tolerant and willing (and less illegal) environment. Many of the stories on HN focus the problems with education, big corps and the authorities (the stories about Aaron Swartz encapsulate all of these), particularly with regards to people like HN readers. Its a different world to that story, but the issues are still relevant.

saraid216 14y ago
Hm. It makes me think of civil disobedience. And it makes me wonder: hackers today are used to tinkering with machines, whereas earlier hackers often worked with people. It feels like we lost something there. So many hackers today look at the world and The System and say, "It's too hard. Let's not try."
- DanBC2 14y ago
  >whereas earlier hackers often worked with people. There's a book detailing the rise of hacker culture. There's a bit about hackers 'borrowing' tools from someone. The contempt they showed that man, and his tools, shows that working with people was even then not a skill that all of them had.
  - oofabz 14y ago
    It sounds like you are referring to "Hackers" by Steven Levy. It's a great book and that's a great story. I've posted it here: http://frammish.org/used_up.html http://frammish.org/used_up.html
    - djhworld 14y ago
      I only read this book last year, but it really is a cracking read
  - popee 14y ago
    The Hackers Crackdown?
  - deleted 14y ago
    [deleted]
generalseven 14y ago
It's a very different world. The stakes are higher, both risk and reward, but some of the most important similarities remain. Those two guys named Steve were just a couple of law-breaking hippy hackers before they went on to build that company called Apple. The innovation that came from open Internet and from open source technology that can be accessible to everyone can mostly be traced back to the original underground scene. People have been breaking into MIT systems (like Aaron Swartz did) for as long as there have been systems there for us to hack, and we owe a great debt to some of those guys for innovative technologies we have to day. With the recent political suicide we're all painfully aware of the risks, but not nearly enough coverage is given to the positive contributions many hackers make. In some societies people turn to self-immolation as a form of protest. In others we have hackers. One day, after the smoke clears, we may look back at the "hacker scene" as one of the most important counter-cultural movements of the 20th Century.

by RobAley 14y ago

saraid216 14y ago

Hm. It makes me think of civil disobedience. And it makes me wonder: hackers today are used to tinkering with machines, whereas earlier hackers often worked with people. It feels like we lost something there. So many hackers today look at the world and The System and say, "It's too hard. Let's not try."

DanBC2 14y ago
>whereas earlier hackers often worked with people. There's a book detailing the rise of hacker culture. There's a bit about hackers 'borrowing' tools from someone. The contempt they showed that man, and his tools, shows that working with people was even then not a skill that all of them had.
- oofabz 14y ago
  It sounds like you are referring to "Hackers" by Steven Levy. It's a great book and that's a great story. I've posted it here: http://frammish.org/used_up.html http://frammish.org/used_up.html
  - djhworld 14y ago
    I only read this book last year, but it really is a cracking read
- popee 14y ago
  The Hackers Crackdown?
- deleted 14y ago
  [deleted]

generalseven 14y ago

It's a very different world. The stakes are higher, both risk and reward, but some of the most important similarities remain. Those two guys named Steve were just a couple of law-breaking hippy hackers before they went on to build that company called Apple. The innovation that came from open Internet and from open source technology that can be accessible to everyone can mostly be traced back to the original underground scene. People have been breaking into MIT systems (like Aaron Swartz did) for as long as there have been systems there for us to hack, and we owe a great debt to some of those guys for innovative technologies we have to day. With the recent political suicide we're all painfully aware of the risks, but not nearly enough coverage is given to the positive contributions many hackers make. In some societies people turn to self-immolation as a form of protest. In others we have hackers. One day, after the smoke clears, we may look back at the "hacker scene" as one of the most important counter-cultural movements of the 20th Century.