Re: OT: An odd question that has arrisen within my household

[Joshua Levitsky <jlevitsk () joshie com>]

On Oct 13, 2003, at 9:37 AM, henry j. mason wrote:

> you say these 'uber-hackers' don't believe in full-
>         disclosure, but you say they use it to learn? or,
>         without full-disclosure (or any disclosure at all)
>         they would learn anyway? care to posit some theories
>         as to how?

They use FD to just watch what is going on. Not to learn per-say. Just 
to watch how the wind is blowing in computer-land. And they would learn 
without FD because they try things on their own and they work with 
their friends to test theories, but then keep it to themselves and use 
the information to gain social status among their groups, and have no 
care about social status among those of us that have "sold out".

>         these people have tons of free time, yet a lot going
>         on socially? i find those two mutually exclusive,
>         unless you don't have a job, and job-less twenty-
>         somethings are hardly the most motivated of people.

All I can say is I have met some very smart people in my past that have 
managed to hang out in the cool places and hang out with the cool 
people and still they somehow can find the time to learn more about 
almost every aspect of technology than I have been able to. Of course I 
could be not bright, but my work experience has told me I'm at least 
smarter than a lot of people in the industry.

>         i do grant you that there is a very small quiet minority
>         of very skilled hackers. but they aren't t13r anything
>         because they just do it because they have to, not for
>         l33t recognition.

I agree 100% that they don't do it for public recognition, but inside 
their social group they gain status because of knowledge.

Again... this is just my opinion and my experiences here in New York 
City...  and experience has told me that what is true in NYC is not 
always true for anywhere else so perhaps elsewhere in the world I'm 
completely off-base. ... and that is a-ok.

--
Joshua Levitsky, CISSP, MCSE
System Engineer
AOL Time Warner
[5957 F27C 9C71 E9A7 274A  0447 C9B9 75A4 9B41 D4D1]

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