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Conference noted::hackers_v1

Title:-={ H A C K E R S }=-
Notice:Write locked - see NOTED::HACKERS
Moderator:DIEHRD::MORRIS
Created:Thu Feb 20 1986
Last Modified:Mon Aug 03 1992
Last Successful Update:Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:680
Total number of notes:5456

51.0. "Book Report" by ISHTAR::PAGE () Thu Aug 23 1984 12:47

The readers of this 'hackers' notes file may find the following of
interest:

			Book Report
			-----------

    Sherry Turkle, "THE SECOND SELF - Computers and the Human Spirit",
Simon and Schuster, NY, 1984. ($17.95 hard cover)

    Although this book is not specifically about hacking, the author
has devoted one chapter to her understanding of the psychology of it.
The chapter consists of her observations along with some interview with
some hackers.

    For example, when the author is making a point about sexuality and
hacking, the following was included as a hacker interview:

		[begin quotation]

	I haven't figured this sex thing out, but I don't think the
	important issue is control. It's bizarre. I don't understand
	it. A log of the drives that cause hacking and sex are the same.
	They are both risk-taking activities and they both lend a sense
	of accomplishment. But hacking is save in that you are in
	complete control of your computer world, and sex and relationships
	are risky in that the rest of the world has control.

		[end quotation]

    When the author makes a point about creativeness, the following
interview is included:

		[begin quotation]

 	Men can't have babies, and so they go have them on the
	machine. Women don;t need the computer, they have them
	the other way. Why do you think people call ideas
	brainchildren? They are something you create ....

		[end quotation]

    A theme that seems to thread throughout the chapter is that
of control. The following poem from the text illustrates this:

		[begin quotation]

	I control you.
	You're inside me.
	Might as well obey me
	Or I'll make you go away.

		[end quotation]

    One complaint about the book however, is that the author is
somewhat MIT centered (she is an associate professor at MIT). The
world beyond the Charles River does not exist.

    All in all, though, if you are a hacker, this chapter at least would
be worth reading.
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