As far as hacker politics goes, it applies well to the intellectual
sloth of technological determinism, which Veblem and McLuhan
criticised in different ways, and Postman called the most abject form
of surrender.
I assume that readers here do not fall into such ambivalence, since
the very nature of a hacker is to believe in the ability to
meaningfully create and change technology.
I consider it part of our mission to help others overcome the
shrugging, cargo-cult acceptance of whatever tech falls into our laps
and take the active path to designing and using technology toward a
better future for humans. Inescapably, a part of holding values must
be stopping some people from using tech in disagreeable ways. And
since people are guaranteed to disagree on matters, technology is a
new arena of politics and not something that can exist separately
from it.
As far as hacker politics goes, it applies well to the intellectual sloth of technological determinism, which Veblem and McLuhan criticised in different ways, and Postman called the most abject form of surrender.
I assume that readers here do not fall into such ambivalence, since the very nature of a hacker is to believe in the ability to meaningfully create and change technology.
I consider it part of our mission to help others overcome the shrugging, cargo-cult acceptance of whatever tech falls into our laps and take the active path to designing and using technology toward a better future for humans. Inescapably, a part of holding values must be stopping some people from using tech in disagreeable ways. And since people are guaranteed to disagree on matters, technology is a new arena of politics and not something that can exist separately from it.