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Re:The Conscience of a Hacker by ynniv on Monday January 14, 2013 @04:14PM (#5056700)
Hur, indie programmer humor. People who think that are idiots. We live in a time when you can buy a computer the size of your hand that can do real time image analysis on a couple of AA batteries for $40. A couple decades ago that would be a classified munition with the assumption that one would build a better guided missile from it. Just because that computer in your pocket is polished doesn't mean it's a toy. A toy is a remote terminal incapable of executing machine code outside of drawing letters on the screen. Or a computer that only can remember 16,000 numbers at a time (that's not enough enough space for a crappy, unanimated GIF). Remember War Games, when he cracked open the handset of a payphone and made a free call by touching a soda can tab between the microphone and a ground wire? That was the level of technology not so long ago. Try writing your RoR craigslist knockoff using that.

Kids these days.

Re:The Conscience of a Hacker by loydb on Monday January 14, 2013 @07:21PM (#5057617)
^this++

One of the arguments I make against black hat hacking when I answer emails to (mostly) kids is that there is soooo much available you can do to fulfill your wildest geeky dreams. I'm around 90% sure that, were I growing up now, I would have eschewed cracking and instead be hip deep in some nerdvana corner of the maker universe, wiring cats up for spaceflight or something similar.

Re:The Conscience of a Hacker by ynniv on Monday January 14, 2013 @08:19PM (#5057873)
So much of cultural is contextual, and on closer inspection the hero and villan are rarely who you thought they were. I saw your manifesto a long time ago, in a small town far, far away, and it played some part in making a bankers son want to be a hacker. Thanks for that.
Re:The Conscience of a Hacker by chimeracoder on Monday January 14, 2013 @07:37PM (#5057694)
> Hur, indie programmer humor.

> People who think that are idiots.

> Kids these days.

I try my best to keep the level of Hacker News discourse high, but your response is incredibly rude.

Re:The Conscience of a Hacker by ynniv on Monday January 14, 2013 @08:08PM (#5057818)
Well, the author (loydb) says otherwise. I appreciate that you ignored everything else I said, tho. To each their own.
Re:The Conscience of a Hacker by chimeracoder on Monday January 14, 2013 @11:28PM (#5058624)
No, I've just been on the Internet long enough to know that I have better ways of spending my time than trying to hold a debate with a person who calls me an idiot.
Re:The Conscience of a Hacker by ynniv on Tuesday January 15, 2013 @11:45AM (#5061125)
If you think one pithy remark opens a thoughtful debate, I'm not missing anything. Sorry.