Hackers ethics for the world after collapse

Hackers ethics for the world after the collapse

I believe in coincidences, sharing and intuition. By a strange coincidence, this summer I found a book that an unknown person was sharing in their free-books shelf. While I personally donate many books via BookCrossing [link], I pick up even more. This time I was very lucky - my intuition told me that, altho I never heard of the "The Story of B", it could be an interesting story. The fact the write shares the name with my colleague - Daniel Quinn - was another strange coincidence.

Little did I know that this book is going to change my life.

After reading "The Story of B", and devouring all the other books by Daniel Quinn within the same month (Ishmael, My Ishmael and Beyond Civilization), I woke up to the recognition that there is a name for the problem I was intuitively aware of -- the Culture of Takers.

While, on one hand, I am inevitably part of that culture myself, living in the so-called Western Civilization, on the other hand I am also part of counter-cultural movement: hackers.

What was striking while reading those books was similarities between "tribal cultures" (Leavers) [link] and hackers ethics.

Another coincidence influenced the rest of my summer and of my life -- I met Guy McPhearson. He was speaking at the large open-air hackers conference "Observe Hack Make" [link] in Holland, where I was taking part [link] with my family. Guy's talk [link] about Near Term Extinction immediately made me cry, while I sad goodbye to everyone who I love in this world… and then made me curious and energetic: curious to learn more, and eager to contribute.

This is my contribution: I want to explore the connection between the hackers ethics and myths for the third millennium; I want to connect the climate activists, doom-sayers and those going beyond civilization to my own hackers tribes.

A starter: Hackers conferences

If you were never exposed to a group of hikers or their culture, the best place to start is an outdoors conference. Out of ten major ones in Europe, I've been to eight: starting in 1997, every two summers I was on a camp in Holland, or in Germany. These are week-long camping events, organized by thousands of individuals that agree to cooperate with each other on the completely voluntary, un-institutionalized, ad-hock bases. Everyone is a participant, there are no visitors. The contributions are made in voluntary work, sharing knowledge by giving presentations and workshops, minding children, and making art and music together. We organize ourselves in "villages"… we sleep in tents… we eat together… and it all looks like a big tribal gathering. With lots of electricity & Internet.

Smaller but more frequent events are conventions and congresses. Most famous American hackers congresses are Defcon and H.O.P.E., altho they have much narrower focus on computer security. The biggest and the oldest in Europe are the CCC congresses, organised once a year in Germany (this winter will be the 30th edition). Apart form hardware and software hacking, the topics are human rights, freedom, innovation, impact of new technology on the society, activism and alternative lifestyles, art and creativity.

I am inviting you to find the next event close to you and to take part!

Main course: Hackers ethics

What kind of creature can you expect to meet on the hackers conference?

One of the main characteristics of hackers is that they do not like to be fitted into a stereotype, so it is quite difficult to describe them!

My definition of a hacker is "someone who finds creative new ways to use technology".

These are the most interesting hackers ethics values, that overlap between hackers and "Leavers" (tribal) communities:

• Sharing
• Openness
• Decentralization
• World Improvement

(source: Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hacker_ethic )

The value of sharing, for example, is expressed in Free Software movement, where hackers are mixed with programmers. Also, sharing of knowledge is one of the main goals of exploration that hackers undertake, sometimes disregarding conventional laws. Sharing is directly opposite to consumerism, because it focuses on contribution and participation, rather then on consumption. Sharing mentality fosters values other then amassing of material wealth. Most hackers work for not-for-profit, non-commercial organizations. Prestige is granted to those who contribute and share the most - of their knowledge, contacts, contributions. Sharing also fosters close relationships, based on common interests and activities, rather then on power or hierarchy. Embracing sharing as a value reveals beliefs in altruistic human nature and abundance mentality. Sharing can be seen as a reflection of empathy: if I recognize that you have the same needs as me, then I will share what I have and what I know with you.

Here is the similarity between tribal values and hackers values: "when food is scarce - share it" vs "when information is scarce - share it".

Openness is often expressed as "information wants to be free", and is sought after in the activities such as whistle-blowing. Hackers are taking part in anti-trademark and anti-Intelectual-Property movements, where they mix with activists, and were instrumental in WikiLeaks. Hackers community might look like not really welcoming to outsiders, however, it is at the same time egalitarian and meritocratic, so those who are genuinely interested in contributing are accepted. Openness also means being open-minded to new ideas, but also very critical and questioning of authority. Most hackers are generalists rather then specialists - they know a little bit (and sometimes A LOT) about everything. Hackers are supporting diversity and have understanding for other minority groups and subcultures, since we are also outside of the mainstream culture. Again, empathy is needed to be truly open and accepting of others - ideas, solutions, differences.

(pro-tip: do not mix "Open Source" with "Free Software" when talking to real die-hard hackers! These are loaded terms and will lead to a night-long discussion about the differences and advantages of one or the other…)

Decentralization is a principle that opposes hierarchies, authorities and dogmas. Decentralization relies on self-sufficiency and cooperation. Decentralization means horizontal structures. Hackers favourite decision-making process is based on consensus building, since most hackers collectives are self-organized volunteering communities. http://wiki.techinc.nl/index.php/Hackers_tribes#On_Consensus

It could be said that the original Internet was built by hackers, and todays decentralization is one of the principles that is leading hackers to work on the new models for the networking in the future, since "The Spynet" is not fulfilling their goals any more. These emerging networks are so new that they do not have a name yet, and I wrote about them in my essay last year [link]. Sometimes they are called Darknet, or Community-Based-Wireless-Mesh. They are based on principles of abundance, cooperation and peer-to-peer decentralization.

Just like the rest of us, hackers also believe in improving the world. They are always searing for alternative solution, they are curious, creative, innovative.

In addition to that -- hackers are very playful! For example, we do not see programming as tedious work but as a challenge and an opportunity to solve problems. Some can play computer games or board games for incredible amounts of time! (I'm personally not a gaming type of hacker). We play with technology, we play with rules, we play with systems…

Further reading: http://wiki.techinc.nl/index.php/Hackers_tribes#About_hackers

Desert: Hackerspaces

If you are curious to see how all these values work in action, come visit a local hackerspace! There is one in every major city and there are rural communities that have them too. They have existed for decennia (one of the oldest ones in C-Base in Berlin), being situated in squatted houses, info-cafes, communes… but the name became popular about 10 years ago, and the concept is as varied as the hackers scene. Sometimes they are known under a different name: maker-space, hacklab, fablab…

Each hacker space is a community-operated physical places, where like-minder people can meet and work together, share resources (tools, space, infrastructure) and knowledge. This leads to exchange of ideas, and innovation: sharing the same space allows for interactions we can not anticipate. Sharing, Openness and Decentralization are the values, again.

There are similarities between tribes and hackerspaces: "Tribe is a form of organisation that works equally well for all members" -- and the same goes for the hackerspace! For example, there are no bosses, no kings. There are no imposed laws, only rules that were tested and proven to work. "Tribal wealth is the energy that tribal members give each other in order to keep the tribe going" -- exactly the same happens in the hackerspace! Money is of no importance, expenses are shared and there are no profits; projects keep on going because of people who invest their energy, interest, knowledge and enthusiasm, and are proud of the results of their work.

I am part of Amsterdam Hackerspace “Technologia Incognita”, and whenever I travel I visited many other hackerspaces in Europe. I always feel like home, even if I don't know anyone -- but often I meet people that I already met at conferences and camps -- it is a close-knit community. Go here [link] you want to see the photos from my hackerspaces tour. Check out hackerspaces.org [link] for the location and activities of the hackerspace near you. I do hope you like it and become a member, and contribute!

Energy hogs and techno-fix

Aren't hackers part of the problem, rather then part of the solution, you might ask? Indeed, is it not these geeks who are inventing and demanding more and more newer and newer gadgets, without regard to destruction of the environment that the production of this equipment is causing, nor considering the pollution due to the disposal of the old equipment?! Is it not the Internet, the playground for hackers, that is using more and more energy for all the data-centers, satellites, under-sea cables and antennas?

Yes, you are partially right to think so.

However, the material side of consumerism is underlying this behavior, and consumerism is a characteristic of Takers culture in general, not only of the geeks. And the need to communicate is common to all of us, and Internet is just another step in the history of communication tools. Yes, this is something that we all will have to leave behind, when the energy ad raw material shortages will bring global economy to collapse. But being resourceful and creative, being able to repair and reuse old technology could be the contribution that hackers can make, even in those conditions.

What is more important is for the hackers to get educated in matters of futility of "progress" and "growth". In my opinion, the biggest downside of the hackers mentality is their worship of science and technology. There is hope: since they are very logical beings, scientific proof and mathematical models might be a useful tool to teach about inevitable outcomes of our civilization.

Improving the World: Be Realistic, Demand Impossible

If the world is heading to the chain-reaction of collapses, and extinction of either human race or all life on the planet, what's there to be improved? However, if there is any hope that human societies will survive, they will need new myths, in order to avoid making the same mistakes again.

I believe that hackers ethics can contribute a lot to the New Way of Thinking.

The values of Sharing, Openness, Decentralization are part of the Life-Affirming values needed for the new society, beyond civilization. This, together with Playfulness, is what the world can learn from hackers.

In order to complete the story, hackers need to learn more about Empathy, being part of Nature (rather then "fixing" it), and Spiritual Connection.

When hackers are inspired by beauty of Nature, they might be able to accept that the laws that guide the creation of that beauty also govern the fate of humans.

When the scientists who are the idols of hackers embrace spiritual values, maybe they themselves will relax skepticism of spirituality, and allow their atheism to be softened, and to feel that All is One.

Serving a purpose greater then ourselves can be broadened from belonging to a hackers movement, to belonging to the Community of Life on this living planet.

For all of us to learn from each other, we need more contact between thinkers and doers; between philosophers and geeks. New collaborations between programers, artists and farmers, anarchists and politicians, atheists and yogis, activists and scientists and, yes, hackers and poets and environmentalists.

These new connections are going to produce unexpected results.

This is how hackers can contribute in creating a new, better world after the collapse.