An Article Of Neo Proportions - Kaspa@HFactorX.org

Meet Joe Smith.  Joe is an average kind of guy.  In his teens, at school,
common interests.  One day Joe is playing games on his computer and
something clicks.  Some area lodged deep in his psyche just...twigs.
"Hey!" he thinks.  "I wanna be a hacker!".  

Okay, so it might not seem realistic, it might not seem lifelike.  But
that is what happens.  Normal users that want to delve deeper in to the
very innards of the mathematical calculator known as the computer.  
However, as the hacker spark is born, it goes into its phoetal stage.
At this time, it is very delicate.  It can be influenced by its 
environment, its surroundings.  And this is where the point of
decision comes in.  

Right or wrong.  Good or bad.  Black, white.  Very simple.  And so is
the corruption of the hacker spark.  We will see very soon that Joe
Smith will either become one of the new-age "hackers", or one of the
older-schooled members of the underground.  Now, age makes no difference.
It is when Joe Smith comes up against a problem, a wall, that we will
see whether he takes the high road or the low road.  

Problems seem to be a break point.  If this new user come up against
something he cannot do, something he did not expect, something that
he thought would be easy, but takes a little work, he will take one of
two options: give up, or work on.  If he gives up, this choice will
decide what path he takes in the hacker world.  If he gives up, he
will take all the easy options further on.  He will choose Windows
over UNIX.  Visual Basic over C.  Denail Of Service attacks over
Networking security.  

This will lead to Joe not bothering to learn.  Find an easy option
for everything.  Will he ever ask how IRC works?  How the Internet
works?  How you do this, why this does that?  No.  Because he gave
up at the slightest problem.  Yes, it may seem hard.  Yes, it may seem
difficult, it may seem complex.  But if he works hard, looks, finds,
understands.....he will make it.  He will become a proper hacker.

Hackers.  The original term meant a well - educated programmer.  But
as hackers started to want to know WHY, they branched out.  Knew more
than the average user.  They had the power to control the whole
system they were on.  And they did, they learnt.  But they did not
destroy.  In my belief, a real hacker is someone who strives to learn
more and more about the computer, and all that it is associated with.
And in my belief, the aspiring user known more widely as the "newbie",
will only obtain this if he or she has the right attitude.  If they
work hard to solve a problem, not give up.

So, to any newbies out there yearning to become the hacker, a final
note of aid.  Don't give up.  If you find a problem, don't give up
if it is too hard.  Try and solve it.  Try and find more about the
problem you are dealing with.  Know your enemy.  Then find a weak
spot, and solve the puzzle.  When you get the right attitude, you
are already on the way to becoming a hacker.

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