Tuesday, February 7, 2012
I Am A Hacker
In today's society, the term "hacker" is often used with a negative connotation. I've read in a few different places about hacker culture and what it truly means, or at least meant, to be a hacker. This article about Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, explains the concept fairly well. I identify with the idea of taking things apart, digging deeper to discover how things work, and always yearning to make things better. Hacking is not about writing viruses or breaking into someone's private information to steal credit card numbers. The true hacker is characterized by a vigorous pursuit of knowledge and a stubborn unwillingness to settle for mediocrity. As one whose curiosity about the world around him never seems to be satisfied, I am a hacker—in the original sense of the word.
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Interesting story. I think the curiosity you talked about is what drives many hackers. Unfortunately, some hackers let that curiosity get the better of them, which is how the term came to get that negative connotation.
ReplyDeleteI think it really depends on how you choose to use your curiosity, creativity, and talents. To quote Dumbledore (and possibly others who've said similar things), "It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities."
ReplyDeleteThe main difference between a person like Adolf Hitler and a person like Martin Luther King isn't necessarily their abilities; they were both brilliant and influential speakers. The difference was their choices--what they chose to do with what they had.
I once opened a book about WarCraft hacks, hoping I could learn how to hack multiplayer games and mess up other players (not that I would, but I was just curious. Instead, the book was about making changes or adding things to the game to improve the gameplay experience or even help you perform better. I then learned that hacking was about more than just breaking into things that I shouldn't get into.
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