csc (06/14/82)
>From Rolling Stone, June 10, 1982, pg. 69 in an article on video games:
"Atari ... is like one of those big old-time Hollywood studios with a
stable of high-priced talent grinding out release after release. ...
The talent -- the people who actually design the games for home and arcade --
aren't at all like the stereotypical "hackers" of academic lore. They aren't
all pasty-fleshed wimps wired through their fingertips into the keyboard of
a VAX or IBM computer. They're simply a bunch of people who have a knack
for hashing machine code into entertaining patterns. Unlike the pure hacker,
the video game maker is more concerned with communicating THROUGH the
computer than WITH the computer."
My comment:
Disregard the technical mistakes and hyperbole, except to note that this is
what at least one person thinks about hacks. But note the last sentence,
which implies that a hacker is primarily concerned with communicating with
the computer, being fascinated by the machine, rather than doing something
with the computer, something that has meaning in a larger context. In this
sense, I feel that obsessive hacking is harmful as it contributes to a lack
of perspective, leading to poor decision-making ("tunnel thinking"). Still,
though I've heard tales of obsessive hacks, I have yet to meet one: the
people interested in computers that I know have quite diverse interests (cf.
the number of newsgroups).
As for alienation being good for society, I disagree. Non-conformity is
healthy, even necessary, particularly if it leads to innovation. But alien-
ation is a feeling of lack of community, of not being able to talk with
someone who understands and/or cares. My hope is that networked computers will
actually alleviate alienation, by conquering geographic boundaries that keep
people with special interests isolated.
It might be fun to propose "computers as controlled substances" legislation
on the net to get a reaction, but my heart wouldn't be in it. I agree with
the libertarian views on this that have already been expressed.
peter rowley, u. waterloo