[wallflower]

Not everyone is a hacker.

I see this in some of my co-workers who only code for a living, not for a passion. They go home to their TVs and Netflix and raise their families. They could care less about Hacker News and the signal/noise ratio of the content.

I see this nowadays - people just expect things to work - my niece (under 6 yrs of age) will go to photo frames and swipe across them, expecting something to happen. From a very early age, she expects touch screen interfaces.

I see this in my parents when I have to do technical support (they refuse to move from Windows - Go Microsoft!) - and have to explain to them that a computer operating system is a dynamic system and, yes, the printer will stop working- just because it worked yesterday doesn't mean it will work today.

When I try explaining to my dad the process for fixing something on the computer, he just doesn't want to do it or can't. He wants a step by step by step process. But I can't give it to him. Because the process is finding out the process.

Isn't that what hacking is?

I would argue, based on a non-scientific sample of some of my friends talking about TV shows they watch and the restaurant food they go to, that the world is divided into producers and consumers. The catch here is that everyone is a producer and everyone is a consumer.

Pre-digital distribution, it was very hard for someone to produce at scale (the Gutenberg press revolutionized information access - previously books were hand-copied, a process taking months if not years).

Now, with digital distribution, people who can produce works that can be copied (sometimes illegally, to detriment of the author's profit) can make a profit off their creativity and hard work. They can produce at scale (software, CDs). Mozart died broke because he lived in an age before distribution, before he could reach an audience that would appreciate and pay - concerts were the only means of distribution - couldn't load his tunes on your iPod.

As hackers, we can produce something that can be copied digitally and distributed digitally. From Youtube Instant search to TwitterVision - people can consume (even if just for free) - what we can hack. Hacking isn't always fun though - it's not easy (my dad, potential CS students who drop out because it isn't as easy as they thought) which is a subject for another time.

I'm a hacker - though not a great one - I love being able to modify and create things. To create is to live, for me.

[rytis]

> I see this in some of my co-workers who only code for a living, not for a passion. They go home to their TVs and Netflix and raise their families.

Especially this one:

> ... and raise their families.

You think being a coder and raising a family is oxymoron? Or rather not being a 'passionate' coder is a bad thing? Or even being a hacker for 8 hours a day is the same as not being a hacker at all?

Trust me, raising a family (if done properly) involves a hell of a lot more 'hacking' than saving 8ms on some random SQL query...

[mbesto]

In both cases it's the act of creation, they're just manifested differently. Hacker's enjoy their creation because they feel like stretch the limit of their intellect. Creating a family (IMHO) is both as equally, if not more, challenging.

[wallflower]

You are both right. Somehow raising a family seems to be more than hacking, though, it is the meaning of life.

[simondlr]

> The process is finding about the process.

Yes. Exactly. I've been in a similar situation with my mother. I have to describe the steps one by one. When GMail changed its design, she was suddenly bewildered!

On a related note, I do think this mentality starts from an early age. Education teaches pupils to memorise and not understand. In an attempt for pupils to stay on par with their peers, they resort to memorising. Later on in life, this gets increasingly difficult, and then people just resort to staying consumers, not producers.

[derefr]

To put it another way: the process is the Scientific process. When we teach kids "science" in schools, we teach them rote facts about physics, or chemistry, or biology—but what we really need to do is just to instil in them, over and over again, that experimentation gives you data you can use to craft a better, next experiment.

[tkahn6]

> I see this nowadays - people just expect things to work...

> When I try explaining to my dad the process for fixing something on the computer, he just doesn't want to do it or can't. He wants a step by step by step process. But I can't give it to him. Because the process is finding out the process.

This is reminiscent of The Zen and Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. The conflict between the romantic and the classic.