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Comment by kmuzykov | Hacker News Reader

I totally agree. But why use word "Hacker"? Let's make up a new word for such state of mind. When I've first read Hacker's manifesto (http://www.phrack.org/issues.html?issue=7&id=3&mode=...) I wanted to become a Hacker, but never did, although everything written there is very close for me. But I've never called myself a Hacker.

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Well, you could try. But you'd be fighting a lot of history and inertia. The "Hacker Subculture" has been around for quite a while and that usage of the word is pretty commonplace.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hacker_%28programmer_subculture...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hackers:_Heroes_of_the_Computer...

Thanks for the links, I've somehow missed new description of a Hacker - "A person who enjoys exploring the details of programmable systems and stretching their capabilities, as opposed to most users, who prefer to learn only the minimum necessary."

Looks like now you can learn Ctrl+S (which is above the minimum necessary, File -> Save) and call yourself a Hacker.

Yeah, but that's not exactly "stretching it's capabilities."

Ultimately labels are just conveniences. Anybody can call themselves a Hacker if they want to, even if they don't even know Ctrl+S. But the rest of the world is free to acknowledge or ignore their self-label. Personally I'm quite happy with that state of affairs. The last thing I'd want is a Bureau of Hackers that you have to fill out 3 forms, in triplicate and pay a "filing fee" to every year, in order to be called a Hacker. :-)

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