Weekly Topics - Week 12: The Historical Hackerdom

source: Pixabay


This week’s topic is about the history of Hackers and the hacker-culture. I’m writing a short opinion piece about the practical applicability of the ideals of Hackers in the modern world.

One thing up front: I don’t know much about hacker culture and therefore I don’t really feel in the position to really critique it. I will just throw in some thoughts.

Over the time there has been some different hacker work ethics. Especially the hacker ethic of the nineties stuck out to me. Eric S. Raymond wrote a “How to become a Hacker” article. There are some good and basic recommendations in it, like learning a programming language and learn speak English fluently. But his “points for style” (basically how to become an even better hacker) seem weird to me. He suggests aspiring hackers to go to science fiction conventions and read science fiction. That makes it look like he wants his community to separate themselves from the “outer world” and join this very specific circle. He also suggests aspiring hackers to learn some material-arts, learn to play an instrument well (or sing) and to appreciate puns and wordplay (at least I can tick off the last one). For me, this list seems like an invitation to a cult. It seems a bit too much. If you follow all the recommendations, there will be no more free time to see your family and friends or -dare I say it- other hobbies. I know these suggestions were only “points for style”, but still: they were listed. I see these tips as more of a deterrent. If I were an aspiring hacker, this flood of to-do stuff would scare me off.

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