Julian Assange on Mon, 5 Aug 2002 12:30:15 +0200 (CEST)


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> Have any of you ever tried hacking instead of simply gushing about it's
> subversive qualities blah blah blah? Believe me, if you do you will be
> numbed into boredom within minutes. It is not rewarding work except for
> those who get a perverse thrill out of playing the role of deux ex
> machina in other people's lives.
>
> noble reasons. I am sorry, but I refuse to see hacking as a pursuit we
> should be putting on the same pedestal (or higher, in one person's view)
> as artistic creation. It just ain't so!

You can't ``try'' hacking any more than you can ``try'' theoretical
physics.  If you found the process mind-numbing then you weren't
doing it creatively or your mind was numbed to begin with. Computers
are machines designed to eliminate repetition. If you're engaging
in repetition this should tell you something about your skill as
a programmer. As for artistic creation, ugh, when I survey the
non-economic arts it is difficult to see anything but ineffectual
wankers desperate for poorly concealed self-aggrandizement, pissing
from the tops of their self-errected pedestals, endlessly turning,
trying to keep the latest political wind at their backs.

On a good day with a brolly I'm more generous and see them as a
mostly harmless, if parasitic, marketing arm for the people who
do the real work.

--
 Julian Assange        |If you want to build a ship, don't drum up people
                       |together to collect wood or assign them tasks and
 proff@iq.org          |work, but rather teach them to long for the endless
 proff@gnu.ai.mit.edu  |immensity of the sea. -- Antoine de Saint Exupery

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