Reading 01: Hackers, Ethos

Readings

The readings for Tuesday, August 30 are:

Hackers

  1. The Conscience of a Hacker

  2. Hackers and Painters

    See also: The Word "Hacker", Great Hackers

  3. A Portrait of J. Random Hacker

  4. How yuppies hacked the original hacker ethos

  5. Mark Zuckerberg's Letter to Investors: The Hacker Way

Meritocracy

  1. The Capitol of Meritocracy is Silicon Valley, Not Wall Street

  2. Too Few Women In Tech? Stop Blaming The Men.

  3. Dear Silicon Valley: Meritocracy Is an Ideology Too

  4. Silicon Valley Isn't a Meritocracy. And It's Dangerous to Hero-Worship Entrepreneurs

  5. Naive meritocracy and the meanings of myth

Philanthropy

  1. Sean Parker: Philanthropy for Hackers

    Use your favorite search engine to find the article for a non-paywalled version.

  2. A letter to our daughter

  3. How the Gates Foundation Reflects the Good and the Bad of "Hacker Philanthropy"

  4. Change the World

Income Inequality

  1. The Refragmentation

  2. Why Silicon Valley is embracing universal basic income

  3. Paul Graham has accidentally explained everything wrong with Silicon Valley's world view

  4. Silicon Valley's Unchecked Arrogance

Questions

Please write a response to one of the following questions:

  1. From the readings and from your experience, what exactly is a hacker? That is, what are the key characteristics of the hacker archetype? Do you identify with these attributes? That is, would you consider yourself a hacker? What is your reaction to this characterization?

  2. From the readings and from your experience, what is the ethos of the computing industry? That is, what are its core beliefs or guiding principles? How does the computing industry manifest these ideals? Is it successful in maintaining its principles? Discuss whether or not these principles match your own.

  3. Of the following computing luminaries, who is the most moral or ethical: Richard Stallman, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, or Mark Zuckerberg? Who is the least? Discuss your reasoning and provide support for your arguments.

    What if we changed the question to who has had the most positive effect on the world rather than who was the most ethical or moral. Does that change your assessment of any of the persons? Explain.

  4. Does the computing industry have an obligation to address social and political issues such as income inequality? How well suited is it to meet such challenges? How does the ethos of the computing industry influence its take on "fixing" social, economic, and political problems? Can tech save the world?

Blog Posts

Note, you are only required to response to one question prompt. Each response should be between 500 - 1000 words. Each post will be graded in terms of:

Of course, you may choose to response to multiple prompts if your interested. You may also choose to respond to posts from other students (in a separate follow-up post).

Feedback

If you have any questions, comments, or concerns regarding the course, please provide your feedback at the end of your response.