Modern Hackers as Collective Thinkers

by Delta Charlie Tango  (deltacharlie.tech@protonmail.com)

The following article will explore narratives currently portrayed by the (((mainstream media))) through the lens of a hacker.

I have been a hacker for many years, and have noticed the trend from independent, critical thinking in the hacker community to adoption of the mainstream collective thought process.

To clarify this point,i I'll draw the line at approximately 2008, and I will call the time from the late-1970s to then the "old days."   he specific examples I will use to illustrate this are the corporate work environment, the use of hacker language, and the rise of social justice warriors.

Independent Thinking

In marketing, whenever you want to portray a "black hat" hacker, you use dark colors and a lone, faceless person in a hoodie typing away in code.

The grain of truth here is that hackers, both black and white hats, used to be social outcasts.  They were small, independent groups of people, tinkering away on projects.  Maybe they occasionally got together in person, but they also communicated online.  There simply were not a lot of hackers around in the "old days."

Whenever there was a group who wanted to make an impact, it was small, local, and motivated by an independent train of thought.  The heavy influence of social media was not at a peak yet.  Of course, mainstream media promoted political agenda, but the expectation of private businesses to get behind government-promoted causes was not there just yet.  The power of government to coerce businesses to the degree seen today is fairly recent in the timeline I am presenting.

The hackers who were around in the old days, in my humble opinion, would hardly promote a mainstream narrative.  They would get behind more "grassroots" causes.  Most hackers who wanted to engage in mischief would do so at a small, local level, proving a point, rather than acting as unpaid informants for the government or dangerously using attacks like SWATing and doxing.

Today, the technology industry has a booming cybersecurity component.

Now, everyone can become a "hacker" through the various online certification programs.  But the kinds of jobs the behemoth cybersecurity industry currently promote involve working in corporate America.  Even if someone has the "old school" hacker spirit, they have to join the rat race, submit a ton of private information for your employer to scrutinize in a background check, and go to an office where you are dictated to on how to think and act.

One of the first hacker books I read was Secrets of a Super Hacker by The Knightmare.  In a small part, he suggests emailing a company and simply telling them you are a hacker but that you want to help.  You know the company to be vulnerable, and can position yourself as a professional, independent consultant.  The entrepreneurial spirit of this resonated with me, and inspired me to start my first business.  When I saw that the late Kevin Mitnick had started a security company after his time in prison, I thought it was genius.

Hacker Language

My second point is the use of hacker language.

To me, hackers are synonymous with technology.  But today, you can find a "hacker" in every industry: health, life coaching, food, online shopping.  I am not against finding tricks in a particular industry, or exploratory tinkering.  But get creative and find another buzz word for yourself.

Also, I consider "hacks" as particular tricks and techniques as they relate to technology.  If everyone is using the term hacker, hacks, etc., it dilutes the work of the people who are actually hackers and are doing the hacking.  Language like this is as mainstream as someone spending a few months in an online course, earning a certificate, and calling themselves a "hacker."  Real hacking involves getting out there in the real world and doing it.  if 100 percent of your "hacker" training is in a controlled environment, like HackTheBox or TryHackMe, you might have a good foundation, but there is much more to learn.

People starting out with an interest in hacking would have a much more fulfilling education by creating their own labs and doing it from scratch.  Almost everyone has an old computer or device laying around.  A beginner hacker can hit up family and friends for old equipment and create a lab in no time.  Scrapyards are full of working computer parts.  Going about it in this way gives you a much more tactile, real world hacking experience.

Unfortunately, HR people cannot understand what it means to create a hacker lab.  They would rather see a CompTIA certification.  Then, if you even get a corporate job, you will be given a very specific role.  Hackers are well-rounded.  So over time, working in a corporate job you will lose the well-roundedness and become a widget cranker.

Hackers as Social Justice Warriors

Being that hackers and technology are intertwined, it is no stretch to say that hackers can create their own political and social opinions, through the medium of the Internet and legacy broadcasting.

The problem here, as in my first point, is critical thinking and independent exploration.  If you are glued to your screen all day long watching the mainstream narrative where is the time to question things?  When will you give yourself the freedom to challenge, question, and search for more unbiased, unfiltered opinions?  Literally every mainstream channel is censored.  To get any semblance of independent reporting and opinions, you have to use independent and/or decentralized outlets like DuckDuckGo, Rumble, Nostr, and WikiLeaks.  Even 2600 engages in censorship.

But why must hackers (as a collective) get behind the mainstream narrative at all?

It used to be bad business to talk about politics, religion, and sex.  Today?  Well... do I really need to explain?

How about we keep our opinions mostly to ourselves or confined to the very small group of trusted friends and family?  In the environment today, when you take a confrontational stance on something to get people to agree with you or give you "likes," you are simultaneously insulting others.  These people might be family, your next customers, or your future employer.  Why?  Why can't we use technology to do great, innovative things without some political or social agenda? We can create our own inventions and retain ownership, rather than have that technology used to surveil people.

We've all been watching the massive psychosis that is the AI narrative.  We are making technology for the ruling class to further reach into our lives.  If you disagree, you can check out Worldcoin and FedNow, and are welcome to contact me about your thoughts.

To me, the best inventions since the Internet itself are Linux, encryption, Tor, and Bitcoin.  A truly free and open-source invention is just like any other tool, and can be used for good or evil.

If you believe that most people are good, you can create something that can benefit more people than it can hurt.  That is a risk every inventor and entrepreneur takes.  These creations are simultaneously despised by government, used by government, and used against government.  Sadly, hackers today would rather hack social media algorithms to gain more followers, or program some altcoin for the latest pump-and-dump, then sell to the corporate world or government rather than create the next truly innovative thing.

If hackers can go back to embracing the sole, hooded, independent thinker who doesn't share political or social opinions, we can disassociate ourselves from the mainstream narrative.  We can focus on technology - and hacking that technology.

Whatever agenda you want to use that technology for is of no interest to me, so let's just hack.