Hack Everything!

The concept of hacking includes far more than poking around in other people’s computers.

This is more than a whine against the MSM for confusing the term “hacking” with “cracking.” Anyone who pays much attention to the MSM can’t be taken seriously. I realize that means most of our world, but that’s the reality. While I take seriously the genuine needs of every human alive, I don’t take seriously what they think and feel. No, this is about how those of us who know hacking means poking around in something to satisfy a curiosity, however much that curiosity may drive us to obsession. Nor does it matter how much skill and knowledge you bring to the hacking, but how it changes you.

By no means would I qualify as a computer hacker. Yes, I do poke at things related to computers, because inevitably the people who make the stuff and write the software are not interested in the same things which interest me. If I take the time to read all their stuff, I won’t know anything they didn’t intend me to consider. So I poke to discover what my own interests can extract from their work. Sometimes I’m just trying to find a fix which was not published, or not very well published. But mostly it’s not a question of how it works, but how I can use it. I’m just a hobbyist or perhaps a “power user” on computers, not a hacker. By sheer luck some of my uses resonate with the interests of others. Thus, I get a lot of hits on my computer related posts here.

This tells me there’s a lot more people interested in harnessing their computers than the other stuff I write about. I most certainly will claim to be a hacker of religion and morality. I’ve spent my life learning, poking and prodding what exists. In this case, it’s not just a question of how I can use it, but exploring the full depth of its nature, things the professional writers didn’t or couldn’t tell me. I’m not just prodding the software, or simply the OS, but I’m poking around in the hardware itself. I want to know human nature as it exists, and to discern things centuries of experts didn’t think about, and certainly didn’t talk about. Then I blather about it here, and a smaller groups seems to be interested. Again, by sheer luck, as it were, I’ve found some stuff other folks were looking for but may not have found by themselves.

A significant element in what I write is the underlying theme you can poke at just about any area of human knowledge. The recurring statements encouraging readers to challenge every authority on every issue which matters to them is the same hacker intelligence. The experts don’t know everything, and may not really know much of anything. Those who write the textbooks and whose ideas dominate the mainstream may be all wrong, trying to hide from you something which is your destiny. Everyone who seeks a place where they can anchor authority and whence they can gain leverage over others warrants the deepest suspicion of their motives. Good moral people do not want control over others. People who simply share what they know will always betray a willingness to hear conflicting notions, and won’t go ballistic because you dared question their personal orthodoxy.

Don’t swallow my religion. It’s not universal; it may not suit your needs. Take from what I write whatever you can use. Steal it! Poke and prod, examine and explore. Adapt it and make it your own. If you have time and inclination, tell me about your own resulting efforts. Maybe you’ll show me something I can use.

Hack everything.