The Word "Hacker" (2004)

http://www.paulgraham.com/gba.html

by messel • 17 years ago

28 29 17 years ago

Last night on 60 Minutes, Leslie Stahl interviewed Vint Cerf and some security experts for a story on identity theft and malware. Cerf was on for maybe 20 seconds and the rest of the segment was your typical the-sky-is-falling doomsday report. What bugged me about Stahl's piece was how rotten she presumed hackers writ large to be. She said the word at least 20 times with no consideration given for honest hackers.

I once used the h-word in a corporate setting in front of my boss. The benign context left no doubt as to my meaning but old pointy hair later assured me I had crossed a line. Memo: the safewords are "code" and "program."

Good to be working on a startup today. Essays like this continue to remind me why I left the establishment.

jgrahamc2• 17 years ago

Do we really need to go over this again? It's pretty simple: within the computer community 'hacker' has a positive context. For everyone else it's negative.

It's like 'fag'. Say that in the UK and you are talking about cigarettes. Say it in the US and it's offensive.

bisceglie2• 17 years ago

not to cut teeth here, but the 'fag' analogy doesn't really hold up. no matter how you swing it, the term 'hacker' relates to technology (hardware, software, wetware, whatever). in this case, 'fag' has two very different meanings. i'm reminded of the story posted a month (or so) ago on the linux hacker dad whose son received some flack from an ignorant teacher (anyone have a link?).

jgrahamc2• 17 years ago

I disagree. It's all about context. Don't describe yourself as a hacker unless you are around fellow hackers (in the sense used on this site). Otherwise you risk being misinterpreted.

unalone2• 17 years ago

Perhaps not "hacker", but call something a "hack" and programmers will get a positive connotation, other people will see a negative one.

windsurfer• 17 years ago

Maybe we need a story called "The Word 'News'"

unalone2• 17 years ago

That might make for an interesting story! There're arguments about the origin: there's the mindset that says it's slang for "the new things", using "news" as a plural for new. Then there's the one that says "NEWS" is an anagram of "North East West South." It leads to some interesting arguments in media class, when it comes to defining "What is News?" (That's an argument that Hacker News seems to have as well, so it's far from dead.)

baha_man• 17 years ago

http://www.askoxford.com/asktheexperts/faq/aboutwordorigins/...

"The original sense of news was 'new things'; this is long obsolete. Since the 15th century it has been used to mean 'tidings, the report of recent events, new occurrences as a subject or report or talk.'"

matthias• 17 years ago

"Hacker" may very well be (helpfully) keeping the size of HN down. The last time I sent someone a link to an HN discussion they took one look at the url and phoned to tell me that my email had a virus.

sounddust4• 17 years ago

Well, the English language is defined by its usage, and if 99% of English speakers think that a hacker is someone who illegally tampers with computer systems, then that's what it means. I don't know why hackers are always fighting an impossible uphill battle to change public perception of the word rather than just coming up with a new word or phrase that defines the positive aspects of being a hacker. In fact, if done properly, the new phrase could even contain the word "hacker".

Xichekolas2• 17 years ago

> I don't know why hackers are always fighting an impossible uphill battle to change public perception of the word

Probably because it allows easy group identification. Those that use the positive meaning are in the group and those that use the negative meaning are outsiders.

We use many words this way. At the risk of sounding very suburban, witness the difference between Gangsta/Gangster when used by people inside/outside hip-hop culture.

access_denied• 17 years ago

Alternative version for your last sentence: "In fact, if done properly, the new phrase could even" be a hack in itself.

pg2• 17 years ago

the English language is defined by its usage

Any language is, but not by simple majorities. In practice there is something like a pagerank for people for language usage, just as there is for most topics.

For example, it could be that 99% of people who use the phrase "begs the question" misuse it. But the 1% who don't are not merely a random 1% of the population. So in disputes about how to use the phrase, those who get it wrong tend to defer to those who get it right. You couldn't say the meaning of the phrase had changed till that stopped happening, because it implies by induction that everyone who misuses the phrase would change their usage if called on it.

Radix2• 17 years ago

Do you remember the 90's? I recall that, for a time, at least twice a week the news would have a story going on about hackers, the danger to the audience, and their children.

I don't hear hackers used for fear mongering as much anymore, so I suspect that hackers will eventually reach the top of the hill. Of course, I expect it will always have slight negative connotation.

shawnyar217• 17 years ago

"Not all hackers are criminals." --me

callmeed• 17 years ago

I don't agree that everyone in the tech world agrees on the term.

When I was in school (late 90s/2000), one of our professors made a clear distinction between "hacker mentality" and "software engineer mentality"–emphasizing that the latter was professional/preferred and the former was undesirable/rogue.

To him, a "hacker" didn't plan, didn't show an engineering thought-process, didn't think long-term, and wasn't a team player.

So, at least in academia, not everyone thinks "hackers" are good.

dhimes2• 17 years ago

Even some of the people we would call "hackers" consider a "hack" to be a temporary fix they put in that's meant to work until they have the opportunity to do it right.

cadalac• 17 years ago

Nuts. I thought it was a new one.

Raphael_Amiard• 17 years ago

There is some interresting things for a non american guy in this article, although i think the way he bounds the fact of being a hacker, and the fact of being american is truely stereotypical, and a little bit sad also seen from outside.

I'd have prefered if he dug the intellectual property thing a bit more.

messel• 17 years ago

There's a lot more to this post than semantic arguments. Get past the first three paragraphs and read about the profound connection between hacking and liberty. It's tied to our past, our present and our future innovations.

The Word "Hacker" (2004)

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