> IMO the beauty of a hack comes from two places:

"In fact, hack has only one meaning, an extremely subtle and profound one which defies articulation."

"Hacking might be characterized as `an appropriate application of ingenuity'. Whether the result is a quick-and-dirty patchwork job or a carefully crafted work of art, you have to admire the cleverness that went into it."

So it has nothing to do with automation, perfecting your craft, saving time, making money, impressing Paul Graham, "hacking education" (?), putting in tremendous amounts of work, being irreverent, growing a neckbeard, or linking up a button to a cell phone.

It boils down to somebody else saying "are you fucking kidding me?" and you get to say: "no."