The Hacker Ethic
Every so often, I get the real treat of reading something by someone who thinks like I do. That’s not to say that thinking like me is hard, or necessarily of value, but it is nice to come into contact with kindred spirits. The Hacker Ethic by Pekka Himanen, a book I really should have read a long time ago, not only gives me plenty to agree with, but also explains why I think the way I do. This promotes intensive nombrilism, which may lead to either a strengthening of said beliefs, or a complete re-evaluation of where I stand. In either case, The Hacker Ethic lays out, essentially, what makes geeks tick (their beliefs, priorities, and motivations), how these traits have developed, and how they fit in with today’s world.
A personal, probably apocryphal note: My father once told me that when I was a preteen, I had just said something (probably rather intelligent, but nonetheless) off the wall, and my older sister asked in frustration, “Why does he have to be such a geek?” To which my father replied something along the lines of, “Don’t complain, geeks grow up to make a lot of money.” My father’s prophesy on geeks in general proved mainly incorrect (and very incorrect in my case). One of the things made clear in this book is that the only rich geeks out there (or, the only ones who flaunt being rich), are those who long ago abandoned their geek status for more worldly pursuits.
The book begins with description of the Protestant Work Ethic, and what it means in today’s society. Among other things, this ethic values work as an end, not just a means. Unfortunately, this requires all other priorities to be squeezed out of our life, or slowly turned into slightly more pleasant versions of work. One poignant example is Himanen’s observation that we can no longer “hang out” with our kids. We require “quality time,” which must have some “goal” that can be “evaluated” at the end of the time allotted. Also, just as companies (work) have learned to contract out tasks to specialized firms and laborers, we now have day care and three-minute microwave meals.
From there the reader is bounced back and forth between analogies, similes, metaphors, and all those other literary techniques you don’t remember from sophomore English. Most of these contrast the new, intriguing Hacker Ethic to the Protestant Work Ethic of the last century, comparing, for example, their respective origins in academic and monastic life.
The explanation shifts suddenly to the ideals of the Hacker community including free speech, with examples from Kosovo, and privacy, which is especially pertinent today with terrorism turning into today’s communism, complete with our new form of McCarthyism. Of course, no alternative business book would be complete without pot shots at Professional Development Lit and traditional mass media. And it is with quotes on those two pernicious evil that I will close this review:
As early as the 1980’s, the French sociologist-philosopher Jean Baudrillard pointed out that the television viewer’s symbolic apotheosis as a receiver arrived when TV shows introduced canned laughter. He noted that television had reached a point at which the TV show was both the performer and its own audience, “leaving the viewer with nothing but pure amazement.” (p.107)
| Professional Development Values | Hacker Values |
| Money | Passion |
| Work | Freedom |
| Optimality | Money Ethic (money is not intrinsically valuable) |
| Flexibility | Worth |
| Stability | Openness |
| Determinacy | Nethic (activity, caring) |
| Result Accountability | Creativity |