Comments on: Respect the Past, Examine the Present, Build the Future http://blog.hackerspaces.org/2009/08/25/respect-the-past-examine-the-present-build-the-future/ Redefining hackerspace culture, one post at a time. Thu, 22 Nov 2012 04:47:53 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4.2 By: openfly http://blog.hackerspaces.org/2009/08/25/respect-the-past-examine-the-present-build-the-future/comment-page-1/#comment-3378 openfly Wed, 03 Nov 2010 06:27:54 +0000 http://hackerspaces.org/blog/?p=897#comment-3378 Hackerspaces go back farther than you think. http://www.resistors.org/index.php/Main_Page The resistors for instance started in the 60s and 70s. Ironically NYC Resistor was unaware of them when we chose our name... but both groups are north eastern based, and have chatted back and forth since. But, if you are a sporting man... you can go back to the 1600s and earlier and see shops like da vinci's throughout the Renaissance acting much like hack spaces. Things have not changed much. Just human lives are short, and our memories doubly so. It's easy to forget the past. What matters most is that we maintain an adventurous spirit and an overwhelming desire to forge new ground defy convention and seek a better tomorrow. Regardless of whether or not we happen to be aware of our past equivalents doing the same. We stand upon the shoulders of giants. But we also stand in a path trodden upon many times before. The only questions is, will we be the first to succeed where others have failed? Hackerspaces go back farther than you think.

http://www.resistors.org/index.php/Main_Page

The resistors for instance started in the 60s and 70s. Ironically NYC Resistor was unaware of them when we chose our name… but both groups are north eastern based, and have chatted back and forth since.

But, if you are a sporting man… you can go back to the 1600s and earlier and see shops like da vinci’s throughout the Renaissance acting much like hack spaces.

Things have not changed much. Just human lives are short, and our memories doubly so. It’s easy to forget the past.

What matters most is that we maintain an adventurous spirit and an overwhelming desire to forge new ground defy convention and seek a better tomorrow. Regardless of whether or not we happen to be aware of our past equivalents doing the same.

We stand upon the shoulders of giants. But we also stand in a path trodden upon many times before. The only questions is, will we be the first to succeed where others have failed?

]]> By: johannes http://blog.hackerspaces.org/2009/08/25/respect-the-past-examine-the-present-build-the-future/comment-page-1/#comment-284 johannes Wed, 26 Aug 2009 14:42:29 +0000 http://hackerspaces.org/blog/?p=897#comment-284 not to forget: a wide array of collectively owned workshops, tool shops and spaces for making that emerged in the 1970s as part of new countercultural topologies (squat houses, communes and farming cooperatives etc.) ... as mentioned in my pamphlet "hacking the spaces" ( http://www.monochrom.at/hacking-the-spaces ) ... not to forget: a wide array of collectively owned workshops, tool shops and spaces for making that emerged in the 1970s as part of new countercultural topologies (squat houses, communes and farming cooperatives etc.) … as mentioned in my pamphlet “hacking the spaces” ( http://www.monochrom.at/hacking-the-spaces ) …

]]> By: hellekin =8) http://blog.hackerspaces.org/2009/08/25/respect-the-past-examine-the-present-build-the-future/comment-page-1/#comment-279 hellekin =8) Tue, 25 Aug 2009 22:14:29 +0000 http://hackerspaces.org/blog/?p=897#comment-279 Although I like the "waves" description of hackerspaces, I still think the hacker history encompasses the whole history of computing, from early prototypes of hackerspaces we can imagine as Leonardo's Workshop in Firenze to Charles Babbage's Difference Engine and the later effort by John Von Neumann, Alan Turing, George Boole, JCR Licklider, Douglas Engelbart, Robert Taylor and Alan Kay, Ted Nelson... The whole history of the emergence of graphical computing and the Internet is paved with the hacker spirit, although the term only appears in the 1970s with MIT hobbyists and soon-to-be free software advocates. Hackerdom has roots in the Renaissance University, where knowledge was to be transmitted for the benefit of all mankind. The main difference between hackerdom and academics, IMO, is on the one hand the reliance on praxis, or experimental science rather than theory, and on the other hand the deep scientific connection of research for all: information wants to be free kinda cyberpunk theme. Thus hackerspaces share a long history of men and women (the first programmer was a Lady*) seeking science and willing to share their knowledge with the broadest possible audience. What Nick calls the Third Wave of hackerspaces certainly share this public endeavor to make IT available to all and spread the virus of learning and teaching and sharing knowledge and know-how. To build upon the same train of thought, Industrialization brought and broke communal workshops and mills, and otherwise shared production resources, spaces and tools that existed since Renaissance. XIXth Century workshops where one could come with bare metal and go back home with a lock and key, were replaced by tightly controlled and organized factories where only the boss could profit from the effort of all workers. Indeed, hackerspaces bring back to front the idea of sharing resources to learn and make things otherwise thought impossible to achieve for an individual. Although I like the “waves” description of hackerspaces, I still think the hacker history encompasses the whole history of computing, from early prototypes of hackerspaces we can imagine as Leonardo’s Workshop in Firenze to Charles Babbage’s Difference Engine and the later effort by John Von Neumann, Alan Turing, George Boole, JCR Licklider, Douglas Engelbart, Robert Taylor and Alan Kay, Ted Nelson… The whole history of the emergence of graphical computing and the Internet is paved with the hacker spirit, although the term only appears in the 1970s with MIT hobbyists and soon-to-be free software advocates.

Hackerdom has roots in the Renaissance University, where knowledge was to be transmitted for the benefit of all mankind. The main difference between hackerdom and academics, IMO, is on the one hand the reliance on praxis, or experimental science rather than theory, and on the other hand the deep scientific connection of research for all: information wants to be free kinda cyberpunk theme.

Thus hackerspaces share a long history of men and women (the first programmer was a Lady*) seeking science and willing to share their knowledge with the broadest possible audience. What Nick calls the Third Wave of hackerspaces certainly share this public endeavor to make IT available to all and spread the virus of learning and teaching and sharing knowledge and know-how.

To build upon the same train of thought, Industrialization brought and broke communal workshops and mills, and otherwise shared production resources, spaces and tools that existed since Renaissance. XIXth Century workshops where one could come with bare metal and go back home with a lock and key, were replaced by tightly controlled and organized factories where only the boss could profit from the effort of all workers. Indeed, hackerspaces bring back to front the idea of sharing resources to learn and make things otherwise thought impossible to achieve for an individual.

]]> By: Respect the Past, Examine the Present, Build the Future – Nick Farr | http://blog.hackerspaces.org/2009/08/25/respect-the-past-examine-the-present-build-the-future/comment-page-1/#comment-278 Respect the Past, Examine the Present, Build the Future – Nick Farr | Tue, 25 Aug 2009 21:16:51 +0000 http://hackerspaces.org/blog/?p=897#comment-278 [...] the full read go Here! var addthis_pub = 'i3Detroit'; var addthis_language = 'en';var addthis_options = 'email, [...] [...] the full read go Here! var addthis_pub = ‘i3Detroit’; var addthis_language = ‘en’;var addthis_options = ‘email, [...]

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