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MIT President Tells Grads To 'Hack the World'

Posted by timothy on from the but-gently dept.

theodp writes "On Friday, MIT President L. Rafael Reif exhorted grads to 'hack the world until you make the world a little more like MIT'. A rather ironic choice of words, since 'hack the world' is precisely what others said Aaron Swartz was trying to do in his fateful run-in with MIT. President Reif presumably received an 'Incomplete' this semester for the promised time-is-of-the-essence review of MIT's involvement in the events that preceded Swartz's suicide last January. By the way, it wasn't so long ago that 2013 commencement speaker Drew Houston and Aaron Swartz were both welcome speakers at MIT."

6 of 86 comments (clear)

  1. sounds familiar... by Tastecicles · · Score: 3, Insightful

    ...Line from "Hackers", repeated several times:

    "Hack the planet!"

    --
    Operation Guillotine is in effect.
  2. Go on, kids, hack the world! by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Go ahead and hack the world. If you get caught, I never said that and we've never heard of you.

  3. Pesky Kids by sanman2 · · Score: 4, Funny

    ... I would've gotten away with it too, if it weren't for those pesky kids!

  4. MIT Hacks by e4liberty · · Score: 5, Informative

    At MIT, the word "hack" means something very specific, and not criminal or unethical. It is a impressive, creative, and clever achievement. From http://hacks.mit.edu/ The word hack at MIT usually refers to a clever, benign, and "ethical" prank or practical joke, which is both challenging for the perpetrators and amusing to the MIT community (and sometimes even the rest of the world!). Note that this has nothing to do with computer (or phone) hacking (which we call "cracking").

    1. Re:MIT Hacks by divisionbyzero · · Score: 3, Insightful

      At MIT, the word "hack" means something very specific, and not criminal or unethical. It is a impressive, creative, and clever achievement.

      From http://hacks.mit.edu/

      The word hack at MIT usually refers to a clever, benign, and "ethical" prank or practical joke, which is both challenging for the perpetrators and amusing to the MIT community (and sometimes even the rest of the world!). Note that this has nothing to do with computer (or phone) hacking (which we call "cracking").

      So, the president of MIT was urging MIT students to pull clever practical jokes? That's stupid or he meant something different. Presumably he meant "hack" in the same way that people who have been actually involved with computers understand it: exploring the possibilities of a system (often including some that the inventor never intended) for the sake of discovery and in some cases using those discoveries to create unique and innovative outcomes. I get that you are trying to make a distinction between "hacking" and "cracking" but "hacking" has a meaning that transcends the special case of practical jokes that are a part of MIT folklore and if the president of MIT did not have the broader meaning in mind, then his comments are almost comical.

    2. Re:MIT Hacks by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

      Yes, they have. Most MIT "hackers" are very respectful of property and equipment, we just like to play with it.

      For example: when visiting various MIT buildings and roofs somewhat illicitly one evening, we noticed that some very clumsy fools had damaged the lock leading to one of the MIT rooftops. The next week, we showed up with tools and parts and repaired the lock, so that there was no sign of damage.

      MIT authorities, in turn, treated our hacks fairly kindly. When we turned the "assembled underwater to practice space manufacture" cube hanging in the lobby of MIT's main entrance into a six-sided die late one night, we took much longer than planned. And when we scurried off for a celebratory drink at the allnight coffeehouse, someone realized they'd left the blueprints in the lobby. When they retrieved the blueprints, it was apparent the campus police had found them and had previously been leaving us alone while we worked, because they had an added signature from the head of the head of campus police.

      We were *very* careful about hacking. The points of good hacks were technological accomplishment, and *surprise*, not theft or destruction. A hack that left someone glad you'd done it was considered ideal, such as the police car or telephone booths on the Great Dome.