The original (computing/model railroad-context) meaning of "hacker" goes back to the 1960s at MIT.
The corrupted 1980s popular media meaning was "criminal". (I cast no aspersions here)
The 2000s PG/HN meaning was an attempt to point toward 1960s MIT, which was probably well-intended (and poorly received at the time), but has failed to convert the popular media, and perhaps has morphed into some gross sticky goo including VCs and tech bros.