Hack
“The hacker culture is a subculture of individuals who enjoy the intellectual challenge of creatively overcoming limitations of software systems to achieve novel and clever outcomes”
Linux hacked computers to transform them into operating systems. The Internet and the web, hacked microsoft, and transformed the computer from an operating system to a connected device. And even in offline life, when change happens, it’s often because of something creative happening. We tend to idealize revolutions, but when real change happens, it’s often because of a new behavior with individuals that can improvise by seeing things in new ways. The energy of change in this behavior can create a new wave of behavior. We can evaluate the current situation and see that new ways of relating with objects and people can arise.
But how to hack?
1 Accept change
Hacking is letting things move, with no blockage. If there is violence in the world, fear or closed ideology, it’s because there is blockage and no movement. So hacking could be letting things move as they should move.
2 Do not be a clone
Do things differently. Do not really listen to what should be done to start a business for example, or gather users, or work, or anything else. Not necessarily because others are wrong, but by doing differently, you provide new ways of doing things. If you’re not creative, you’re not hacking. People kept saying to google’s founder to put some ads in the first page of their search engine, or even mix the editorial and paid content (like it was usually done in the search engine of the beginning of the web) because there would be no way for them to earn money. Every other search engine did it. So why can’t google do it? They had never accepted it: a simple white page with a search input was enough for them.
2 Go deeper
Doing differently requires training. It’s not by being opposed to others all the time. It’s by evaluating and by asking yourself why things are done in such a way. And if you don’t have a clear answer, you need to study it deeply. The best way of learning how you can do things differently is by reading books, so that you can deeply understand the cultural background in which we live: the way things are done today are very relative to our culture, to our way of living. So by studying and understanding that things can be done in many different ways, you free yourself from dogmatic backgrounds.
4 Show gratitude
Take into consideration the values of others. Hacking doesn’t need to be done alone. You can bring others with you, by showing them new ways of playing. Also consider and take seriously the differences that others are showing to you. If you see others behaving in new ways, be curious, and see what you can learn from them.
5 Be cool
Disregard the rules I just proposed to you :)