Can 'Hackstability' Save Civilization?

[longship]

7. Hacking is all about sharing information

At least that's my opinion. As an old time computer hack, I have sympathy for the liberal definition of the term. Common culture -- fuck you, Hollywood -- always terms hacking negatively, which anyone who has ever called themself a hacker knows is a fucked-up characterization. It is precisely like calling all Catholics sodomites. Neither characterization is correct.

The open source concept, which gave rise to a vast portion of the Intertube technologies, is valid across any number of disciplines. Of course, it has been used substantially by the sciences for decades, if not centuries, and is becoming an increasingly important aspect of the citizen scientist movement which is becoming a very potent force.

It is all about assembling a brain share where anybody who has interest and the education needed (formal or otherwise) to cut the mustard, one is welcome to participate.

It is about sharing info to make society, environment, life, liberty, etc. a community project. The cool thing is that we have the perfect infrastructure to do precisely that, the Intertubes.

I use only Linux on my computers which is a product of precisely this model of cooperation, as is the Internet itself. I don't even need virus scanners. (Email Spam filters, yes!)