The Origins of Hacker Ethics: From MIT's Tech Model Railroad Club to Steven Levy's Foundational Work
Summary
This article discusses the origins of hacker ethics as documented by Steven Levy in his 1984 book "Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution." It traces the roots to the Tech Model Railroad Club at MIT, where members built complex relay and switch systems and coined the term "hack" to describe elaborate pranks done with serious respect. The ethics evolved during an era of scarce computing resources, requiring shared machine users to develop rules of cooperation.
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bskyThe Origins of Hacker Ethics: From MIT's Tech Model Railroad Club to Steven Levy's Foundational Workccc.deKey quotes
· 3 pulledThe hacker ethics were first written down by Steven Levy in his book 'Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution'
They used the term 'hack' for an 'elaborate ... prank' with 'serious respect implied'
The hacker ethics evolved in a time when computers were scarce; and the people sharing a machine had to think about rules of coo
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