| It is unfortunate that 'religion' and 'belief in god' are so inextricably entangled in American society. Too often, what people call 'religion' is really an organization that seeks to use the existence and/or potential favor of a supernatural being to impose external controls on 'believers' (which is to say if you don't do what I say you'll go to hell kinds of things). There are folks who believe in the existence of a God but are not trapped by Junior High syllogisms like "Can He make a rock so big He can't move it?" Brent Walters [1] is one such person who has spent a lot of time critically examining belief in God, why he believes, and what he believes, and more importantly what he does not believe about God. He has tracked down sources, and copies of manuscripts from around the world that help inform and educate as to what was going when they were written and to help understand the context of the writing in that light. I think Hacker's embody a very powerful concept which is what the Vatican (and the Dali Lama) really cherish which is the search for truth, through rigor and reason. When a device or program misbehaves a hacker wants to know why it misbehaves and whether or not that behavior is normal or abnormal. Its the truth underlying the observation that they seek. This is why debugging can be so rewarding, not only do you fix the problem but you often develop a deep understanding of the how the environment provoked the problem in the first place and what needed to be true for the problem to not occur in the future. Truth seeking is a requirement for hackers. As it is for those who would become enlightened. [1] http://www.kgoam810.com/Sectional.asp?id=32111 |