] What we haven't had, historically, is an emblem that
] represents the entire hacker community of which all these
] groups are parts. This is a proposal that we adopt one
] - the glider pattern from the Game of Life.

Oh no... ESR invents a logo for hackers. I'm going to say my peace about this now, just so I'm on the record about it, but its really no use. This thing is already on Slashdot. The moderators like it. Think Geek will make a t-shirt. People will buy it. It will become popular. People like to self identify as hackers.

Executive summary: Great implementation of a questionable idea incorrectly presented for the wrong reasons.

I like this logo. Its a good logo. In fact, its probably the best logo that anyone has ever come up with for any hacker culture related thing. Linux Penguins, BSD devils, 2600 emblems.... they are all just a little too dorky. Frankly, this is even cooler then the Industrial Memetics logo. Its timeless and artistically adaptable. I want one.

However, logos that represent a subculture aren't trademarks, they are memes. You can't start a meme by posting to Slashdot. ESR has presented this in exactly the wrong way, just as Dawkins has with "brights." Memes are bottom up and not top down. You make stickers and pass them out and don't tell anyone what it means. You make people see it and want to understand it before you let them in on it, so they think that knowing makes them a part of something. Thats how you hook them. When they think they are a part of something, they'll want to let others know that they are in. In fact, ESR has now ruined any opportunity that there will even be to do this right. This is now the official logo of hackerdom whether people like it or not. And its not going to get adopted by the smart people first. Its going to get adopted by the dumb people. The people who need a t-shirt that says something their reputation doesn't. The real hackers will succumb to this, but only after resisting it. I think there is a real danger here that the dumb people will become so interested in this that it will go through a fad stage and people will simply learn to associate it with stupid. Then it will die.

Furthermore, having a logo is usually an attempt to unite. An attempt to create a cohesive identity. But ESR does not seek to unite, he seeks to divide. As ESR is declaring the logo, he is also drawing lines between who does and does not get to use the logo.

In general, his definition of the word hacker is the one baby boomers prefer, and which is rooted in the value system of that generation, and is mostly tied to the kind of culture which hippies writing software for timesharing systems might produce. He likes unix systems, he doesn't like suits. He wants people to break some of the rules, but he hates people that break other rules. He even invented a term for them. He calls them "crackers," in the same way that a bigot uses the word "nigger."

The breaking into computer systems, phone systems, software piracy, and other computer crime that arrived in the late 70's and 80's is something that arose because the creation of a new world by the interconnection of personal computers required that new ethical and moral boundaries be defined. The vast majority of the people who engaged in these activities, and the culture that arose around them, did not have basic criminal intent in the sense of profiting through dishonesty or in the sense of taking joy in other's harm. Although there certainly were people who did have these intents, most of these people were more concerned with figuring out how things really worked, and what the new social boundaries ought to be. These boundaries are not obviously those that the previous establishment upheld, and the impact of the changes brought on by that are still being worked out. There are continuing battles over intellectual property to this day, as society continues to sort out how we're going to live together in this space. Obviously the news media is going to place people who do this in a critical light. The news media views the world through the lense of the present establishment.

The most frustrating thing is that deep down, the baby boomers know this. The open source software movement is a product of efforts to answer these same questions. Frankly, the invention of the term "cracker" was an attempt by these people to distance themselves from the young generation, whom they didn't understand, and didn't want to identify with. In fact, if you read their definition for "cracker" you'll find that it is as much about people who are immature as it is about people who break the rules that ESR likes. This is a 30 thirty something writing about 10 somethings in 80 something.

I've been all over this country and I've met a lot of hackers. Consistently people believe that a hacker is a creative person who sees computing as an end and not a means. Someone who does things with their computer for the shear joy of it, rather then to get some sort of result back out. There is a sliding scale. Those with real knowledge, real creativity, and real greatness are usually considered really worthy hackers, but in general the definition is the same. Hackers are people who compute for the zen of it.

I know hackers that wear suits. I know hackers that like Microsoft products. And I know hackers that break into computer systems. In fact, in all my travels I've only run into ONE person who bought into ESR's jargon file and delivered an arrogant comment that there were no real hackers in the computer underground. Most of us found 2600 long before we found you, ESR...

The glider: an Appropriate Hacker Emblem