Hackers

What is this book about?

Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution is Steven Levy's 1984 work of reportage, widely regarded as the core text on hacker culture. It unfolds in four parts: the Tech Model Railroad Club at MIT and the early mainframe hackers; the hardware hackers of Silicon Valley around the Altair 8800 and the Homebrew Computer Club; the game hackers who began with Spacewar!; and the transformation of the hacker spirit in the commercial world of the 1980s. Through a cast of particular people — from MIT's 'true programmers' to Bill Gates and Steve Wozniak — Levy sketches a set of values he calls the hacker ethic: information should be free, hands-on building beats talk, technical ability rather than seniority should decide standing, and authority should be mistrusted. The book is at once a prehistory of the personal computer and a testimony to how a subculture changed the world.

Why read it?

It offers not a chronology of technology but a counter-intuitive account of where innovation comes from: what drove the digital revolution was not corporate R&D plans but a group of hobbyists the mainstream regarded as oddballs, who shared, openly modified and played under the belief that information should be free. The framework still helps one judge which organisational cultures actually produce breakthroughs and which 'innovations' merely repackage old processes. It is also a text worth reading warily: how the romanticised parts of the hacker ethic later became entangled with commerce, surveillance and crime is a question the book leaves open.

Core Ideas

• The hacker ethic: information should be free, hands-on practice beats theory, people are judged by ability rather than title, authority is mistrusted, and computers can make life better.
• Innovation comes from the periphery, not the centre: the personal computer was not planned by big firms but emerged from hobbyist communities through sharing and trial and error.
• Play is a serious mode of production: treating technology as something to tinker with makes breakthrough uses more likely.
• Subcultures get absorbed: as the hacker spirit entered the commercial world, the tension between 'free sharing' and 'intellectual property' came into view.

What questions does this book try to answer?

• Do real technological breakthroughs come more from organised R&D or from unorganised communities of enthusiasts?
• How far can 'information should be free' go in a commercial world, and where are its limits?
• When a subculture is absorbed by the mainstream, what remains of its original spirit?

Who should read it?

For readers interested in computing history, Silicon Valley culture and the open-source movement; and for those working in product, organisation and innovation management, whom it will challenge to assume that innovation comes from planning. Those drawn to how technology shapes culture and culture shapes technology will gain most. If you want a manual or a programming tutorial, this is not it.

How to Read It

The four parts can be read by interest: for the roots of open sharing, focus on Part One (MIT) and Part Four (the transformation); for the birth of the personal computer, read Part Two on the Altair and the Homebrew Club. Levy writes profiles and reconstructed scenes, so watch the motives he attributes to his subjects — curiosity, showing off, or conviction. Read it alongside The Cathedral and the Bazaar: the one describes the spirit, the other the method. Bear in mind the book dates from 1984; the internet, open source and security conflict that followed lie far beyond its horizon.