https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hacks_at_the_Massachusetts_Ins...
> Hacks at the MIT are practical jokes and pranks meant to prominently demonstrate technical aptitude and cleverness
Edit: And this...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hacker_culture
> Therefore, the hacker culture originally emerged in academia in the 1960s around the MIT's Tech Model Railroad Club (TMRC) and MIT AI Laboratory.
> Richard Stallman explains about hackers who program:
> What they had in common was mainly love of excellence and programming. They wanted to make their programs that they used be as good as they could. They also wanted to make them do neat things. They wanted to be able to do something in a more exciting way than anyone believed possible and show "Look how wonderful this is. I bet you didn't believe this could be done."