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Brent Scott has a piece on Aeon about the transformation of the traditional "hacker ethic" as described by Steven Levy and Pekka Himanen into a means of enterprise modeling "doublethink".
We are currently witnessing the gentrification of hacker culture. The countercultural trickster has been pressed into the service of the preppy tech entrepreneur class. It began innocently, no doubt. The association of the hacker ethic with startups might have started with an authentic counter-cultural impulse on the part of outsider nerds tinkering away on websites. But, like all gentrification, the influx into the scene of successive waves of ever less disaffected individuals results in a growing emphasis on the unthreatening elements of hacking over the subversive ones.
Scott goes on to suggest that the hacker ethic has become a "hollowed out" form of "solutionism" as suggested by Evengy Morozov, meaning that "...the tech-industry vision of the world as a series of problems waiting for (profitable) solutions."
This process of gentrification becomes a war over language. If enough newcomers with media clout use the hollowed-out version of the term, its edge grows dull. You end up with a mere affectation, failing to challenge otherwise conventional aspirations. And before you know it, an earnest Stanford grad is handing me a business card that says, without irony: 'Founder. Investor. Hacker.'
The piece ends with Scott calling for a reclaiming of the hacker ethic
I'm going to stake a claim on the word though, and state that the true hacker spirit does not reside at Google, guided by profit targets. The hacker impulse should not just be about redesigning products, or creating 'solutions'. A hack stripped of anti-conventional intent is not a hack at all. It's just a piece of business innovation.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 11 2015, @04:05AM
this guy [wikipedia.org]
Seriously, this is the "hipsters" complaining how they had a beautiful thing in (name just about any cultural or social activity imaginable) until the philistines came along and ruined it.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by frojack on Tuesday August 11 2015, @04:20AM
Exactly, couched in racially charged terms just to act as clickbait. (For which mijlo seems to have fallen hook line and sinker).
We are currently witnessing the gentrification of hacker culture.
Nobody realistically claims google employees are hackers, yet the clown sets up the straw man and masterfully destroys it. (golf clap).
You can't own words, And an Author has no claim to stake on the word "hacker" just because he used it in the title of his screed.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 5, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 11 2015, @07:04AM
> Nobody realistically claims google employees are hackers, yet the clown sets up the straw man and masterfully destroys it. (golf clap).
That's a no true scotsman fallacy if I've ever seen one.
Here's Inc singing praises of the hacking skills [inc.com] of the team managed by google's "security princess."
Look at this tech-crunch article from 2012 [techcrunch.com] that is practically the archetype of what the 'clown' is complaining about.
> Exactly, couched in racially charged terms just to act as clickbait.
Ugh. You are so thin-skinned and politically correct. A paragraph buried halfway into the article comparing appropriation of hacker culture by the wealthy with appropriation of rap culture by the wealthy does not make it "racially charged."
(Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Tuesday August 11 2015, @04:11AM
It's called culture appropriation.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by frojack on Tuesday August 11 2015, @04:27AM
No its simply called cultural drift. Revolutionaries get old, sit around and drink beer, while wanna-bees and whipersnappers wrap them selves in the flag and pretend. The originals move on, the vacuum is filled by lesser enthusiasts. But is isn't appropriation, or even usurpation, because the originals just wandered off, abandoning their throne for the bar stool.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Ethanol-fueled on Tuesday August 11 2015, @06:44AM
I always think of genres of music when this topic comes up. Once upon a time, "Alternative" music really was an alternative. "Indie" really was music recorded by small record labels independent of the big studios and wasn't a reference to style.
Both were co-opted by the big studios, and now the word "indie" means "Vapid, overproduced, whiny, effeminate crypto-Christian bullshit loaded with thought-terminating cliches and lacking any kind of controversy." At least vapid pop music in the '80s was about doing drugs and getting girls.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 11 2015, @08:43AM
while wanna-bees and whipersnappers wrap them selves in the flag and pretend. The originals move on, the vacuum is filled by lesser enthusiasts. But is isn't appropriation, or even usurpation, because the originals just wandered off
What an unintentionally revealing post. The underlying assumption there is that only the originals can care about hacking, that the ideals that the originals had are so empty and meaningless that they can't even survive past a single generation.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 11 2015, @11:53AM
I want to repeatedly poke your raw anus until absolutely nothing is left of it.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 11 2015, @04:12AM
Black hats are businessmen now.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 11 2015, @05:13AM
Yep. You don't see pranksters spreading viruses for free anymore. Now it's all malware for profit.
(Score: 0, Offtopic) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Tuesday August 11 2015, @05:14AM
My new antiseizure medicine at first made me quite nauseous. I took Maalox with limited success. Eventually I suggested to the med nurse that the Maalox would work better were I to take it with my Trileptol rather than waiting until I was praying to the porcelain god.
That worked real well; had my secret plan not worked my prescriber would have given me the same antinausea medicine - Fenergine? - as used by chemotherapy patients.
I discussed this with my friend. "Did you write it down?"
"Write down what?"
"That Maalox works if you take it with your Trileptol rather than waiting until you wanna puke."
"No. Why?"
"Because hackers only solve profitable problems."
Countless suicides were completed between the late 1940s discovery of Lithium's effectiveness and its 1970 FDA approval.
See, Lithium is cheap as dirt because it is found in dirt.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 2, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 11 2015, @05:19AM
For a fun suicide, swallow a block of lithium metal and drink a glass of water.
(Score: 3, Funny) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Tuesday August 11 2015, @05:21AM
If a jobboard post mentions "beer" I don't apply.
If a job board post mentions Agile, Scrum or if that same shop has an opening for a Scrum Master I don't apply.
If so much as just one fire exit is blocked I call the fire marshalla few hours later.
If there is dead silence throughout the office I dont accept the offer.
I have a job now; we all work at Starbucks about a half mile walk from my house.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 11 2015, @05:25AM
Selling coffee is honest work, or is it? You're not that guy upselling the expensive coffee even if the customer doesn't want it, are you?
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Tuesday August 11 2015, @05:31AM
Kids These Days.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 11 2015, @05:40AM
Web app coding?! But the world wide advertising web is one big scam! You should sell coffee instead. That's honest work.
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Tuesday August 11 2015, @06:46AM
I expect we'll have a client that sells coffee someday.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 11 2015, @06:52AM
The farmer who grows the coffee is doing the honest work.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 11 2015, @10:18PM
Coffee is generally grown on a plantation.
The Plantation model used to be called by an unapologetic name: Slavery.
On those plantations, any actual labor is being done by an exploited worker class.
N.B. The Plantation model still exists in the USA: Professional sports teams.
Think about it:
There's a guy who is called, again, unapologetically, The Owner.
He can buy and sell people at will.
...then there's the team in Green Bay where the operation is under the direction of the townspeople of that burg.
It's still not a worker cooperative, but it's closer to right than the other franchises.
...and don't you just love it when The Owner comes to a city gov't and says "Build for me (a Capitalist) a stadium using taxpayer dollars so that I can become even richer"?
-- gewg_
(Score: 2) by TheRaven on Tuesday August 11 2015, @08:31AM
I have a job now; we all work at Starbucks about a half mile walk from my house.
Couldn't you get them to let you work somewhere that sells decent coffee?
sudo mod me up
(Score: 1) by Francis on Tuesday August 11 2015, @01:43PM
It is decent coffee, unless the specific locations your going to have QA problems. I've yet to notice a real difference between Starbucks and most of the other places I've gone in terms of the coffee. The real difference is in the atmosphere of the place in most cases.
I do agree about the cost though, it's rather expensive and if you're drinking a cup a day, it doesn't take too long before you can repay yourself for your own machine.
(Score: 2) by TheGratefulNet on Tuesday August 11 2015, @02:51PM
around here, they call starbucks 'four bucks' since its just too damned expensive for even a simple coffee, there.
"It is now safe to switch off your computer."
(Score: 1) by Francis on Tuesday August 11 2015, @03:07PM
I think you're not their target market. Most of the "cheap" stuff that I remember when I was younger was cheap because it was complete crap. Usually burnt, sitting out all day and way too bitter. Personally, I prefer my coffee like I like my women strong and bitter.
But, for people who just want coffee, you can do a lot better at home, and even if not better you can do it a lot cheaper than any of the places that make it for you.
Personally, I don't go out for coffee much, so I'm not really their market either. I could never justify paying that much for coffee no matter how good it is.
(Score: 3, Funny) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Tuesday August 11 2015, @04:59PM
Strong, black, ground-up and in my freezer.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 11 2015, @06:05PM
Starbucks burns its coffee up front before they make it. The "Starbucks roast" is burnt, which some like to derisively refer to the chain as "Charbucks". I was never a fan of Starbucks because of that. A great deal of their appeal isn't really the taste of their coffee, it is the taste of their coffee after they load it up with all sorts of types of sugars, dairy, and flavor syrups. I would venture to guess that the vast majority of people who love Starbucks don't like or drink unadulterated coffee.
(Score: 2) by everdred on Tuesday August 11 2015, @09:02PM
What is your definition of "a simple coffee"? Around here, my Starbucks usual (12 oz black coffee) is something like $1.60.
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Tuesday August 11 2015, @05:01PM
One cannot deduct meal expenses unless overnight travel is required. So I deduct my Pike's Place as office space rental.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 2) by TheRaven on Tuesday August 11 2015, @10:36PM
sudo mod me up
(Score: 1) by Francis on Tuesday August 11 2015, @11:44PM
That's sort of my point, the cheap coffee in the US was always the diner type stuff that was left sitting for hours. Generally burnt and of rather poor quality.
But, pretty much all the coffee shops I've gone to over the years are basically the same sort of deal.
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Tuesday August 11 2015, @04:56PM
Back in the day I would have enjoyed the commute but now I am olde and greye.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 3, Interesting) by tibman on Tuesday August 11 2015, @01:53PM
I actually like agile. My team makes a production push every two weeks. I'm not a fan of building something for months without real feedback. Just getting the client into a feedback position pretty much makes any project an agile one.
SN won't survive on lurkers alone. Write comments.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 11 2015, @03:14PM
Agile can work. In particular cases. IF people are willing to use it. But you have to use it in its particular ways. If you get off doing 'the way' you will end up with a mish mash of bad agile practices mashed together with poor waterfall practices. Making it a hell to do at all.
Some people use agile to say 'we have no plan'. When that is not true. You just have not worked out the details but you damn well better have some sort of end goal in mind. If you dont you will just meander and not have any real reason to create stories other than for the sake of creating them.
The biggest part of Agile is defining 'what is done'. People like to skip that step because 'its hard and we can work it out later'. Later is always later.
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Tuesday August 11 2015, @07:13PM
That's why I don't apply to shops that advertise its use.
If a team is really Agile they don't brag about it.
If HR brags about Agile then the team is managed by a Pointy-Haired Boss.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 2) by morgauxo on Tuesday August 11 2015, @06:36PM
If I were immortal that would sound awesome!
If I were immortal I would get a low-responsibility part-tme job and however many roomates it takes to afford rent. The roomates just provide free entertainment anyway. It would be like college days again but without all that time studying or in class! It would be awesome!
But.. I watched some of my great grandparents deal with old age. Then my grandparents and now my parents. In today's world living a long time is easy. Living a long time with comfort... that takes money and insurance. I'm going to work my 9 to 5 to make damn sure I have plenty saved for retirement and I'm going to make sure my kid goes to a good school so that she can do the same.
Sure.. we all die eventually.. but those last few decades can really vary in quality. I've seen it both ways.
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Tuesday August 11 2015, @07:09PM
I've devoted enough of my fractional Tick to Working For The Man.
Actually it _is_ my old age that I am concerned about. From my AMCC 3ware resignation:
"When The End comes and I lay on my deathbed looking back on a life well lived, I am not going to wish I had shipped more product."
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 2, Insightful) by m2o2r2g2 on Tuesday August 11 2015, @06:20AM
News just in... meanings of words can change.
If we have a concept that is no longer represented by a word, then trying to "take back the word" will be a losing battle.
Easiest solution: find a new word, or use more specific sub classifications (like black hat and white hat do for indicating testing with or without inside knowledge)
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 11 2015, @06:25AM
The time has come to take back the word "loser" and show the world that everybody is worth something even if they have no job and have no income and do work on unpaid projects for the love of learning. Losers unite!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 11 2015, @10:45AM
...take back the word "loser"
http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/L/luser.html [catb.org]
(Score: 3, Insightful) by c0lo on Tuesday August 11 2015, @06:55AM
Did "ethos" change its meaning? Because TFA article is not as much about the meaning of "hacker", as about the "hacker ethos being hacked".
So, Ok, if you want to make an argument about TFA message and you stumble and fall onto your nose on the "hacker" word, I suggest you to replace it with "trickster" ("countercultural trickster" if you like it better).
Then you should be able to decipher the substance in TFA* and make your argument.
---
* for a 3000+ words TFA, there's a homoeopathic amount of substance anyway. I can't blame you for not detecting it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anal Pumpernickel on Tuesday August 11 2015, @08:16AM
News just in... meanings of words can change.
If the meanings of words can change, then you can also attempt to educate people about why they shouldn't use a certain word in a certain way. They can change in positive ways too.
News just in: You don't have to mindlessly accept people using a word in a way that you don't like. You can, in fact, criticize the use.
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 11 2015, @07:25AM
Once upon a time (the '70s) hacker meant someone who was good at putting together some code quickly and, in particular, cleverly, to solve a problem. (more generally, it was not just coders - even tinkers in gadgets were considered hackers - like hackaday.) Then in the '80s, the term came to mean someone who was doing things with computers that were not necessarily nice or legal. Now it's coming back to the old definition, sort of.
Sigh.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 11 2015, @07:49AM
hacker: n. [originally, someone who makes furniture with an axe]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 11 2015, @10:17AM
If you can read that, your not a yuppie hipster poser.
If you can, I respect your uber leetness.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 11 2015, @01:41PM
10n9 11v3 1337 H4kZ0r5
(Score: 3, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 11 2015, @03:39PM
937 0|=|= |\/|'/ 14\^/|\|
Damn whippersnappers..
(Score: 3, Insightful) by PizzaRollPlinkett on Tuesday August 11 2015, @11:10AM
"...gentrification...countercultural trickster... ever less disaffected individuals...solutionism...otherwise conventional aspirations..." and so on - I guess this made sense to whoever wrote it.
(E-mail me if you want a pizza roll!)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 11 2015, @03:43PM
Looks like we have the same culture appropriating, language hipsters penning anti-hipster articles now. How hipster.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 11 2015, @12:13PM
Necessity (GREED) is the mother of all invention.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 11 2015, @02:00PM
"a true hacker spirit does not reside at google"
reminds me of things Martin Luther wrote and nailed to doors, lmao
Powerful language, ehehe.
(Score: 3, Touché) by morgauxo on Tuesday August 11 2015, @06:41PM
Why would a real hacker care about someone ursurping the meaning of a word? They should be too busy exploring some corner of the technological world to give a shit about petty semantics. Days are short and you only get so many!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 12 2015, @12:54AM
This is true.
It reminds me of the breaking a "hat" into obedience post that someone made.
A hacker has to be broken into it, and in the process, the hat is crushed or otherwise no longer the hat it was.
Otherwise, without that breaking/conditioning, the hacker/hat is too busy learning something new, in the flow of something they know, or finding out what they aren't supposed to be knowing and getting better at it as they do it.
whether its computers, networks, phones, or atari game programming... they aren't caring about the politics, which is often a problem because they become criminal for doing what used to be free. (maybe not the atari games, but think of how they had to get their names in the games on the sly because they were forbidden from doing so normally--they had to break the rules even though they had done nothing wrong.)