[Noisebridge-discuss] What is a hack? What is hacking? Who are hackers?

jim jim at well.com
Thu Dec 24 16:27:48 UTC 2009


   there are those who care about the term "hacker". 
i'm one. i embrace the problem and try to educate 
people to the effect that "hacker" is someone who 
creatively attacks problems with an understanding 
of general principles and a lot of testing, while 
a "cracker" is someone who hacks systems without 
permission (and sometimes with more nefarious 
motives). 
   for me, "hacker" is a useful word, its meaning 
is beautiful. other terms don't convey the same 
sense (tho' some come close). the press sometimes 
uses "hacker" to mean "cracker" but also sometimes 
uses "cracker" properly instead of "hacker". my 
sense is that there's hope for educating the 
general population. 



On Thu, 2009-12-24 at 03:28 -0800, Sai Emrys wrote:
> I wonder if "maker space" might not be a more grokkable term for non-hackers.
> 
> It's kinda an uphill battle to have to overcome the non-hacker
> definition of 'hacker' every time we want to promote it. "Maker" has
> no such baggage, and what people intuitively think it means is
> actually pretty accurate of what *we* mean by "hacker".
> 
> - Sai
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