The Three Pillars of Functional Autonomy of Hackers

This paper proposes a framework of necessary, but not sufficient, conditions (technical skill, shared values, collective memory) for a community to resist assimilation by capital.

It seems to propose a duality of capital vs hacker, where capital's innovation comes from harnessing hacker communities like one uses fire for warmth.

Technical skills, shared values, collective memory. If you were wondering.

"Considered broadly, the proposal that alternative, bottom-up technologies for social change can emerge from a setting that is concurrently said to be under the hegemonic control of state and capital is seemingly self-contradictory. By and large, hacker culture, norms, and practices, together with the underlying technological infrastructure, are all saturated through and through with hegemonic relations to the state and capital. Still, we cannot contend from this that resistance is futile."

The article is clearly written by a borg.

What it comes down to is know how, shared world view, and communication of experiences. Soooooooooo just like any group out there but these are hackers.

side note:

The hackers I know would never have themselfs studied, because, in essence its what they are really fighting against: having to adhere to the rules that other peole set them.

I have been there in the 90's when IRC was the place to be and becomming a hacker was basically finding the right people in an IRC_Chatroom and hanging out with them. No magic, just people that are more interested in finding out how your modem works vs what rachel had for dinner last night.