The author makes some interesting points, and I think this is a valuable read. But I'd like to add that the author seems to be using a somewhat different definition of "maker" than what I'm familiar with. At least around Durham and SplatSpace (our local Maker/Hacker space), "maker" is seen in a very inclusive sense, and there's no sense of superiority associated with those who "create whole new things" vs those who "just tinker" and those who "teach" or "write", etc. In fact, we consider education to be one of our primary missions, and we do a lot of "stuff" around the space that's designed to simply share existing knowledge: "how to solder" workshops, "electronic kit building" workshops, "learn to 3D print" workshops, etc.

Our space also encompasses people whose interests range from paper-based arts and crafts, to knitting, to metalworking, to woodworking, to 3D printing, to hobby electronics, to amateur robotics, to software development, to netsec / pentesting, etc., etc., etc. We consider all of these people to be makers/ hackers in their own way.

This is the way I've always approached the Maker community and I feel like most of the other locals I know approach it the same way. Maybe this varies by geography though?