You can run into various terms when researching it — DIY, hacking this-or-that — but the skills and methodology mean nothing if you don’t sense a drive for it. It arises from recognizing that someone is trying to control your choices for their personal profit.
Michael Laufer has a drive to overcome the heartless greed that dominates the pharmaceuticals industry. While it’s altogether likely he stands to gain something from his notoriety, we tend to look past that when someone offers a practical solution to the price gouging of monopolistic corporations run by psychopaths.
Both the problems and the hacking have been around since before recorded history. There have always been people willing to use violent force to control the market and suck the blood from consumers. In recent history we have seen a truly massive effort in the area of computer software, whence we get the term “hacking” as the term for exploring possibilities by poking around in things the authorities try to keep hidden. And it doesn’t require us to support everything about it to benefit from the results. I don’t support all of Laufer’s work, but that doesn’t detract from my admiration for someone who successfully infiltrated the system far enough to reveal the secrets: You don’t have to pay $600 for an emergency dose of epinephrine. If you are willing to do a little work, you can have it for just $35 or so, and no one can stop you.
You don’t have to become a PhD in math (like Laufer) to use his knowledge. A critical element in the hacking culture is the free release of all the details you need to make use of the research. That linked article offers enough information that allows your average Netizen to safely replicate his results. You’d be surprised at the solutions floating around out there published in channels that specialize in challenging the system. The hacker ethics are a critical element in the rise of the Networked Civilization, and it will hasten the demise of Western Civilization. Surely it’s not all good, but you can play your part.
Don’t think you can’t participate in something like those efforts. When you learn to live heart-led, you’ll discover that God has called you to bring His glory and redemption in other ways. For example, my own exploration of computer technology has almost nothing to do with hacking the software or the hardware, but hacking the mindset that renders users dependent on sources who don’t give a damn about their needs. I’m not offering a replacement of one Borg for another, but offering a chance to stop and consider unquestioned assumptions. Use what works best for you, but at least pray about your choices.
It’s the same across the board of this life. As Sister Christine has warned us repeatedly, don’t buy into the lie of corporate “natural” health marketing. Just because it says “certified organic” doesn’t mean it’s the right choice for you. If you haven’t already checked into it, you may be shocked at the way the meaning of “organic” has been diluted by corporate lobbying of regulatory agencies. You cannot walk the Spirit without taking some interest in your own body, your own existence in this life, and what God requires of you individually. To live heart-led is to find that place where you merge back into Creation as the integral part God had in mind originally. We were never meant to be demigods separate from our environment, but a part of Creation with a mission from God that brings Him glory within the ambient world where we live. And Creation was meant to provide all we need to carry out His calling; it’s not just a collection of inert tools, but an active partner with a will to support His glory. Closer to God means closer to His Creation, because Creation isn’t fallen; we are.
But you wouldn’t be aware of that kind of thing unless you spent some time hacking religion, as well. Whatever else I do that is reflected on this blog, it’s my hacking of the corporatized religion system that inhibits people from exploring options that won’t keep the leadership wealthy and in control. Would you be surprised to discover that some of the big names in religious leadership are the same kind of psychopaths that run greedy commercial operations? Surely you know that almost every church is organized just like a for-profit business, a structure mandated by governments through the enticement of tax exemptions.
My religion is not recognized by the government agencies and I rather like it that way. Not because I’m somehow better and smarter than the mainstream religious leaders, but I’ve been blessed with a calling to ask questions they don’t want to answer. The system abused me and tossed me out, so I have nothing left but to follow a different path. After years of playing at computer hacking, I discovered the call to hack religion. Consistent with the rising hacking culture, I’m sharing the results in my Open Source religion.
