Sunday 6th April 2025

Where are all of the hackers now, and is that culture still alive?

Topics:

• When I first got into computer networks in a big way in the 1990s, the coolest thing you could be was a hacker.
• Now in 2025, I am left wondering where did all of those hackers go?
• Perhaps like me they got married, had kids, and took a steady job at a corporation or even a start-up?
• In the beginning of the usage of the term "hacker", is was used to describe someone who used their technology skills to explore networks and other systems out of a strong sense of curiosity, not bad intent.
• Instead "cracker" was used to differentiate someone who used their skills for personal gain, or to actively harm the systems they were cracking into.
• Somehow "cracker" did not stick, and instead we ended up with the following terms:
  1. Hacker became Whitehat hacker.
  2. Cracker became Blackhat hacker.
• This inevitably led to some people describing themselves as "Greyhat hackers", further muddying the intent of the original term.
• Today's "hackers" are just as likely to be Silicon Valley founders or investors: honestly the term has lost its meaning.
• So where have the original hackers gone, the guys driven by intellectual curiosity and not personal gain?
• Many founded open source projects, and still maintain them. These guys are legit.
• Some have no doubt moved into crypto, driven as they are by a deep distrust of authority, and a deeper need for anonymity.
• While I still had an X account in 2024, I briefly became excited about the e/acc movement as it appeared to capture some of the original hacker ethos, until I realized that many of the self-styled leaders of that movement were self-promoters who were perfectly fine with stepping into the limelight once they were "doxxed" by the media.
• Now I am left searching my old haunts: Slashdot, Hacker News, 2600, IRC...since I left X recently, to try to find my online tribe.
• Please hook me up in the comments, I am still curious.

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techleaderpro-2025-week-14.mp3

File details: 6.3 MB MP3, 4 mins 22 secs duration.

Title music is "Apparent Solution" by Brendon Moeller, licensed via www.epidemicsound.com

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