Reading 02: (Computer) Power to the People

 

Reading 02: (Computer) Power to the People

Much like the game of LIFE discussed in both parts of Hackers, the hacker ethic grows and spreads like the cells on Gosper’s CRT until it can no longer sustain its original shape. In the case of the original 32 hackers in Gordon French’s garage who started the Homebrew Computing Club, there was no way the hacker ethic could remain one single minded cooperative entity once the hacker goal of demystifying the machine was achieved across America.

I feel like everything is so obvious in hindsight. The hacker ethic of acceptance and cooperation was already showing its fragility with the limited cooperation, despite close proximity, of the “True hackers” and the “hardware hackers”. The most both groups interacted was with Peter Deutsch setting up the time-sharing system for the original Community Memory and “Uncle” John McCarthy attending some of Bob Albrecht’s Midpeninsula Free University sessions. “True Hackers” viewed hardware hackers’ hacks as basic and unimpressive. Likewise, most “Hardware Hackers” viewed the MIT elite as being government dogs and did not approve of their hacks for moral reasons. This simple separation between both groups reinforces that even in the beginning of the “Hardware Hacker” movement, the hacker ethic #4, “Hackers should be judged by their hacking, not criteria such as degrees, age, race, sex, or position” was already being thrown to the wayside.

In a crude sense, it’s like cyber protestants and Catholics. Both MIT and hardware hackers agree on the same set of hacking commandments (i.e. the hacker ethics) but disagree fundamentally on how to interpret them. The proliferation of BASIC in the hardware hacker community was like Martin Luther’s 95 Theses for the “True Hackers”. While the “True Hackers” talked to computer God in Latin (assembly), the hardware hackers preferred common English (BASIC).*

That’s as deep as I want to go with the religion comparisons because hackers did not persecute each other.

Moving on from crazy comparisons, I would say the compromises made by the “Hardware Hackers” to spread the benefits of technology to the world are inevitable and probably for the greater good. For computer technology to spread, there had to be large entities/corporations willing to invest. I probably would not have been into computers were it not for the ease of access to video games and having my parents’ computer while growing up. Despite the passion hackers had for computers like the Altair 8800, it was not meant for mainstream acceptance. I think Adam Osborne hit the nail on the head thinking that “people were happiest when relieved of anxiety-producing choices”; sadly, the average person has no desire to be a hacker.

Apple has perfected this philosophy of easy entry into computers. My dad can barely turn on a tv sometimes yet knows how to use his iPad without any help from his “computer science” son (for the most part). Reaching this level of advancement in user interface and widespread adoption could only be achieved through fierce competition amongst tech companies. Without the birth and death of companies like Osborne Computer, MITS, and IMSAI, computer tech for the masses would have stagnated.

However you view the rise of tech giants, you cannot argue that there have ever been more hackers in American society than now. With the compromise of the hacker ethics for the sake of business, there has been a rise of brave youths how would rather not pay Adobe $250, and instead just get the “free version” from torrent. Hackers who still believe all digital information should be free, do not trust centralized powers of corporations and government, and will accept anyone into their ranks solely based on their hacking of modern systems. Hell, the GTA6 trailer leaked as a hack by teenager Arion Kurjal using an Amazon Fire stick, a hotel television set and a mobile phone from a Travelodge hotel while in custody for another hack he had previously committed. It’s reminiscent of “Captain Crunch” John Draper hacking phone companies while under probation using his prototype Apple II for no other reason other than he could, so he did. Both Draper and Kurjal did not do their hacks with criminal intent, instead did so out of their inability to not view any information as free, to not view any authority as absolute, and because they thought it would make life more fun.

To finish up my rambling, I do not think the hacker ethic was truly compromised by greed and corporate desires. Those that compromised or “sold-out” were just opening the door for more hackers to be born with the technology they were releasing to the world.

*It is important to emphasize that this comparison to Christian society is only on a superficial level and am not suggesting there was any deep seeded hatred between both hacker groups like in the case of Europe’s wars of religion.