What attributes are required to be eventually be labeled a hacker?

[YenTheFirst]

Re: What attributes are required to be eventually be labeled a hacker?

disclaimer: I'm not sure I actually qualify as a hacker myself, seeing as everything at defcon tends to go way over my head.

1) I think the vacuum cleaner questions are along the right track. As an anecdote - a friend and I once took apart a vacuum cleaner, and attempted to use the pump, along with some plywood, an unneeded camping tent, and duct tape to build a hovercraft. it didn't work.

2) I think another necessary (but not sufficient) quality is the reaction to failure. When some people fail, they don't try try again, they ask for help, or give up. Some people keep trying harder. Some people try something different. I think a 'healthy' response to failure is what drives hacker-ish creativity.

[ch0l0man]

Re: What attributes are required to be eventually be labeled a hacker?

renderman's post got me thinking that the Little Rascals would have to be some of the first hackers on film. They put together some of the craziest gizmos out of average every day items.