What Hacking Is and Why It Is Wonderful

A hack is when a user manipulates a tool in a way, or in order to do something, which the creator of the tool never anticipated or even deliberately cautioned against. In so doing he exploits either the weaknesses of the tool or its unintended capabilities. The hacker's delight is in this, he understands something which the creator of the tool does not, or he is doing something which violates the creator's design sensibilities. His delight is not very different from that of the adulterer, not the accidental or incidental adulterer but the adulterer who possesses another man's vessel willfully in order to prove himself more capable than the owner. In a word, the thrill of hacking is the thrill of sin, the thrill of rebelling against a supposed higher law and standard, and in so doing elevating oneself above the Lawgiver. But hacking is not sinful, because the lawgiver in this case is not God, and this is precisely why hacking is so wonderful. It is one creature exploiting the failures of another (often more accomplished) creature and in so doing showing them to be just as much a creature as themselves.