What I feel a hacker is has changed since I entered the world of computers.\u00a0 The popular opinion is that they are a person who “uses computers to gain access to unauthorized information”.\u00a0 According to this definition, all hackers are criminals.\u00a0 In my opinion, this is not an accurate label.<\/p>\n
When I am defining a “hacker” I think of what a “hack” is.\u00a0 While there are many different definitions for this word, the one I like to use is similar to that of a “lifehack”, which is a “strategy or technique adopted in order to manage one’s time and daily activities in a more efficient way”.\u00a0 Going with this definition, we can see a hacker as someone who finds and uses these hacks, or strategies, possibly using computers.\u00a0 In this sense, I do identify myself as a hacker.\u00a0 I believe that I use my knowledge of computers and computer programs to do things more efficiently.<\/p>\n
Throughout the readings I found many other possible definitions of a hacker; some I identified with more, and some less.\u00a0 I especially enjoyed the article entitled “The Word ‘Hacker'”.\u00a0 The article described a similar description to the word “hack” that I identify with.\u00a0 They also brought up the other side of that word that means that something was done badly, or not properly.\u00a0 The author describes how these two definitions are connected because they both involve breaking the rules.\u00a0 Whether it be simple instructions that we choose to ignore because we can see a more efficient route, or breaking laws by committing copyright infringements, they represent two sides of the same coin.<\/p>\n
“The Word ‘Hacker'” goes on to discuss the problems with some of the recent laws against hacking.\u00a0 The author claims how certain types of hacking do not involve directly stealing a certain component, but taking those components apart to see how they work.\u00a0 Their point is that sometimes we need to do some sort of hacking in order to come to the truly best solution.\u00a0 When we are limited by these laws, our creativity suffers.\u00a0 While I understand the desire to protect people’s intellectual property, there is a downside to some of these measures.<\/p>\n
While I quite enjoyed “The Word ‘Hacker'”, I did not identify as strongly with “The Conscious of a Hacker”.\u00a0 To me, that article seemed more like whining than anything else.\u00a0 I commend this anonymous hacker for being able to find where they belong when they discovered computers, but to complain about not showing your work in math?\u00a0 Maybe it’s just because I majored in math, but there is never a reason to not show your work.\u00a0 “…we’ve been spoon-fed baby food at school when we hungered for steak… the bits of meat that you did let slip through were pre-chewed and tasteless” If they are such a superior human, you really can’t go out and find other resources to feed your immense curiosity?\u00a0 This high and mighty author needs to step off his pedestal and advocate for hackers in a more effective manner that doesn’t make us roll our eyes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
What I feel a hacker is has changed since I entered the world of computers.\u00a0 The popular opinion is that they are a person who “uses computers to gain access to unauthorized information”.\u00a0 According to this definition, all hackers are criminals.\u00a0 In my opinion, this is not an accurate label. When I am defining a … Continue reading Reading 01: Are we humans? Or are we hackers?<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2724,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shelby-lem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shelby-lem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shelby-lem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shelby-lem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2724"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shelby-lem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shelby-lem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shelby-lem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26\/revisions\/28"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shelby-lem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shelby-lem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shelby-lem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}