Calling All Hackers

Definitions of “hacker” and ethos

• Many align on “insatiably curious” or “infinitely curious” as core, but note that curiosity alone is a “bookworm”; hacking also involves tinkering with rules, breaking/repurposing systems, and deeply understanding complex systems.
• Others prefer “technically creative” or “wants to understand how things work to manipulate them.”
• Several note that arguing about the definition is itself very “hacker.”
• Some stress that hacking goes beyond computers to social, financial, and biological systems.

Reception of the article and Phrack style

• A sizable group finds it engaging, well-written, even “manifesto-like,” especially past the initial “what is a hacker” section.
• Others experience the tone as edgy, self-important, or long‑winded; multiple people wanted a TL;DR and felt the intro was cringe or gatekeepy.
• Some see it as a modern, middle‑aged echo of classic hacker manifestos and consistent with Phrack’s traditional voice and layout, including the text/ASCII style.
• A few complain about mobile-unfriendly formatting but also find the plain-text aesthetic charming.

Hackers, capitalism, and financial systems

• Many like the framing of financial markets and startups as systems to analyze and exploit, not mysterious priesthoods.
• There’s agreement that understanding incentives (VC, middleware/EDR vendors, “checkbox” security) explains why bad products and obvious grifts get funded.
• Some strongly dislike the recommendation to “become the corporation,” seeing hacker culture as inherently anti‑authoritarian. Others argue that running ethical companies is how to scale impact and create good jobs.
• Several readers say the article helped connect their technical mindset with economic and market dynamics.

Pills, cynicism, and agency

• Multiple comments unpack “redpill” as disruptive truth and “blackpill” as truth plus hopelessness / learned helplessness.
• Some relate being “blackpilled” about startups: seeing pervasive incompetence and bullshit yet feeling too disillusioned to found something.
• Others push back, arguing this mindset is itself disempowering and that hackers should cultivate agency rather than doom.

Body hacking, estrogen, and inclusion

• The estrogen / estradiol example sparks a large subthread.
• One camp sees body modification and DIY access to hormones or reproductive meds as legitimate “hacking your own body” and navigating hostile medical/legal systems.
• Another camp is puzzled or hostile to its inclusion, preferring more traditional “Molotov / lockpick” imagery; this leads to arguments about trans issues, autism correlations, terminology (“biological male”), and accusations of bigotry.
• Some emphasize that accepting people who are different is central to hacker culture and that reproductive and gender‑affirming healthcare are more broadly useful than destructive hacks.

ZIRP, interest rates, and tech economy

• Many agree that zero/near‑zero interest rates fueled wasteful startups, lazy capital allocation, and a depressing era of scammy projects, though some credit ZIRP for enabling speculative engineering (e.g., big infrastructure projects) that later benefited the ecosystem.
• There’s extensive back‑and‑forth on whether low rates are choice vs macro inevitability, how much they drive bubbles, and how rate policy interacts with inequality, worker power, and government deficits.
• Opinions diverge on whether returning to very low rates would be dangerous or beneficial, but most think ZIRP had serious distortive side effects.

Community, careers, and impact

• Older participants reminisce about BBS/phone‑phreak eras and the feeling of belonging to a secret counterculture; some feel modern “hacking” has gone mainstream or become a pale imitation.
• Others share that they moved from youthful hacking into entrepreneurship, valuing creating good jobs, helping customers, and serving communities more than solo exploits.
• Some are skeptical of early‑stage startup work unless you’re a founder; others describe paths of saving money in big tech, then self‑funding profitable, value‑driven businesses.