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WELCOME TO THE HACKER ETHIC SITE!
This is the site of the book The Hacker Ethic by Pekka
Himanen with Linus
Torvalds and Manuel
Castells. The Hacker Ethic has been, or is being,
published in more than ten languages, including English, Japanese,
Chinese, Korean, German, French, Italian, Spanish, and
Portuguese.
Here, the word hacker doesn't refer to
computer criminals but what the word originally meant: a person who
wants to do something that one is passionate about, something in
which one can realize oneself creatively, and something in which one
can build things for the good of all. The
hacker ethic is a new work ethic questioning the old Protestant
ethic. To read more about it, click the Book
or Writings. See also the reviews.
Some coming talks by Himanen at the end of
2001:
Nov 10 Creativo Web and TV Festival, Milan,
Italy
Nov 13 Talk to the German Parliament, Berlin,
Germany
Nov 14 Talk to the Finnish Parliament and the
Supreme Court; talk to the Helsinki University of Technology,
Helsinki, Finland
Nov 21 The Information Society
Conference in Lempäälä; University of Tampere; University of
Jyväskylä
Dec 5 Talk to Nokia About the authors
Dr. Pekka Himanen, b. 1973, did his PhD in philosophy at
the age of 20 at the University of Helsinki (computer science as the
minor subject). Since then, he has worked as a researcher in Europe
(Finland and England) and the United States (Stanford University and
the University of California at Berkeley) , as well as done field
study in Asia (India, China and Japan). Himanen's next book is
coauthored with Manuel Castells, in continuation to their
cooperation in The Hacker Ethic, and is on the social
challenges of the information age (coming out in early 2002).
Among the many adviser positions that Himanen has held, he has
been an adviser to the Finnish President, government and the
parliament on the information society as well as the Finnish
Ministry of education and various universities on the virtual
university. He has also continuous dialog with the world's leading
information technology companies on the human-oriented approaches to
the information society.
In addition to his academic work, Himanen is a well-known
cultural figure, whose interests range from the cooperation with
artists (e.g. philosophical experimentations with actors and being a
member of the Bangolet dance competition jury) to the media (e.g.
hosting a TV series called "The Net Academy" and being constantly
interviewed in all media in various countries). His university
lectures have gathered audiences of more than 1,000 at best, for
which he has been recognized with the Finnish Ministry of
Education's award as a lecturer. He has even provoked an
award-winning play called Cherished Disappointments in Love by Jouko
Turkka (it is a story of an older female journalist who falls in
love with a young philosopher "Pekka Himanen"), run in Finland from
1996 onwards and in London Soho Theatre in the fall 2001.
Linus Torvalds, b. 1969, is one of the most respected
hackers within the computer community for creating the Linux
operating system in 1991 while a student at the University of
Helsinki. Since then, Linux has grown into a project involving
thousands of programmers and millions of users worldwide. Currently
Linux is widely seen as the main threat to Microsoft's hegemony.
Torvalds works also at Transmeta, the challenger of Intel, that is
developing a microchip especially for handheld devices. Torvalds has
received numerous recognitions, including two asteroids named after
him. Torvalds's programming is often interrupted by his favorite
game, snooker. He lives in San Jose with his wife and three
daughters.
Manuel Castells, b. 1942, is Professor of Sociology, and
of City and Regional Planning, at the University of California,
Berkeley. He has also taught and researched in more than twenty
other countries authoring more than twenty books, including the
highly acclaimed trilogy The Information Age and The City of the
Grassroots (winner of the 1983 C. Wright Mills Award). Currently he
is doing research with Pekka Himanen in Berkeley. Castells has
received numerous awards and is a member of the European Academy. He
lives in Berkeley with his wife. |
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