Steven Levy - Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution

1984, Doubleday | 978-0-385-19195-1

It’s interesting to be re-reading this at a time when I would never use the term “hero” or “revolution” to describe anything tech-adjacent. The companies started by the generation profiled in this book did indeed cause a revolution, but it’s been articulated as a transfer of power and wealth rather than the kind of Star Trek utopia I imagine I had in mind when first reading this as a teenager.

I’m re-reading this with a friend who also read it for the first time as a teenager in the 90s. I think we’re both curious to see if the youthful optimism for the subject we remember holds. I would say that at least in the initial pages, it does. The stories of teenagers and model railroad enthusiasts camping out by The Machines so they could sneak in time for pure experimentation still reads as inspiring. Such a contrast to the productivity and goal-oriented culture surrounding so much of modern “tech” communities – even the term hacker has long since been coopted to mean something somewhere between corporate security professional or consumer hobbiest – seemingly never very far away from business plans and monetization schemes.