The Hacker Ethic

Picked this up from the library rather randomly, and read it in 3 days - very thought provoking, especially because even though it's written 10 years ago, so much of what it grapples with is still - or even more - relevant today. While Egypt was flaring up, it was fascinating to read about how the Internet was used in the 1999 Kosovo crisis.

But for me the first 2 parts - on money as motivation, and our attitude towards work - were the most riveting. The "Hacker Ethic" is still clearly alive today, and much more evident in areas other than technical realms. How this ethic integrates (or not) with more traditional structures of work and life is a topic in need of some big answers. This book didn't offer much in the way of solution, but show more did do a great job in setting out the reasons and contexts for a lot of the divides in attitude around today.

Good read if you're into any of the media and information literature - especially as the main text is bookended nicely by Linus Torvalds at the start, and Manuel Castells at the end. show less

covers at http://tinyurl.com/8ehs6 (imageshack.us PhotoBlog)
by http://what.ticio.us

Review
“A person can be a hacker without having anything to do with computers.â€?
—Pekka Himanen

“A thoroughly spirited and commendable framework for human creativity.â€?
—Financial Times

“As comprehensive and instructive as any [survey] to date... Himanen has a powerful grasp on that strangely intoxicating contradiction that is open-source.â€?
—The New York Times Book Review

“Engagingly written and provocative, and indubitably commendable in its vision of a transformation of how all of us relate to our working life....We should all be more like show more hackers.â€?
—Salon.com

An important idea, an important book, March 9, 2001
Reviewer: Jon D Katz (Montclair, NJ USA) -

I should say up front that I'm not totally disinterested in the Hacker Ethic. I'm a media critic and author and I blurbed this book, something I don't do a lot. I did -- and am writing this review -- because I feel strongly that this is a very important book advancing a central idea -- the hacker ethic, profoundly misunderstood and demonized by the popular media, is important, both to politics and work. This isn't another in the avalanche of impenetrable cyber-culture books. It looks backwards as well as forwards, to the Protestant Ethic that has shaped many of our lives, and beyond, to the hacker joy and passion. The hacker ethic has trigger a true social and cultural revolution. Himanen (who I don't know) traces its roots, and perhaps more importantly, where it can take us. This is very important. If journalists, CEO's and others would read this book carefully, they might get ahead of the Net Revolution for once, instead of scrambling continuously to figure out where the world is going. If you want to know, this is a good place to start. It is also a very noble endeavor to finally give the hackers their due in the evolution of the modern world. It's not a big dense read either, which it easily could have been. It is a small book and moves quickly. It's ideas are accessible, and very, very convincing. show less

This book compares the hacker ethic with the protestant work ethic, which we are more familiar with:

Protestant Work Ethic
- work is seen as an end onto itself (it prevents idleness, which can only lead to sin!)
- work must be regarded as one's duty (because work by definition is unpleasant)
- assigned work must be done, regardless of it's value (because it's humbling)

Hacker Work Ethic
- work is interesting and enjoyable
- the output of the work must be valueable to others
- the output of the work must be open for others to use and improve upon
- workers need the freedom to organize their work/leisure it best suits them
- workers must have the freedom and privacy to perform the work in whatever manner achieves the required output
- workers must show more help other workers

It has excellent references to other books and philosophers to help illustrate it's points. It's very thought provoking. It gave me a totally new way of looking at motivation. It also helped to identify some things about my current work that I don't like. (Someone could make a million writing "A Guide to Managing Hackers" using the ideas in this book).

Unfortunately, the book reads like someone's PhD thesis -- but it's worth reading! Thanks Greg for loaning me this book. show less

general review. the first two parts are good. the third part is kinda jargony and boring.

Kind of a half-review (as I'm currently only halfway through the book) but hopefully this will give you an idea of what to expect:

http://openattitude.com/2010/04/14/hackerism-ethics-and-the-best-dad-ever/

Synthèse passionnante qui oppose l'éthique protestante (cf Max Weber) à l'éthique hacker. Tout à fait lisible par un non-sociologue non-philosophe (là je pense à moi). Mais nécessité de rester critique.