Personal Narrative- Computer Hackers
My perception of hackers was crafted long ago, by my brother, a
hacker himself. He was involved with all manner of clandestine activites
and tied up our phone line for hours. I, of course, never understood
what he was involved with, but remember being excited when he broke into
an army base, as the military was my passion at the time. I also never
understood the constant calls from strange men our family would receive,
nor did my parents. Now, my brother claims it was the FBI investigating
him. Whether this is true or not, I do not know, but what I have always
believed of hackers is that a certain mystique and romance is important
to their work. He was excited by the fact that the FBI would be
interested in him. Hackers use something as easily accessible as a PC
to create great waves in the larger world. Although their tasks are
often effective, they are not the most practical breed.
Simply the fancy nomenclature they use and their tendency to form
hacking groups shows that a full culture has developed. I have always
been under the impression that most hackers did not find their calling
for functional reasons, but to join a popular youth subculture. That is
why I am not surprised that the vast majority were and are young, at
least when the culture arose in the eighties. The identity with a
formally named group further shows this need to belong.
The wit of their stunts and insistence on a personal touch also shows
that hacking is an artistic outlet. I was surprised that even in a
political movement as developed as the Zapatistas, this facet of hacking
remains. The Electronic Disturbance Theater, as their name suggests,
view themselves as performance artists.
I was also surprised at how the hacking community has evolved since
TRS-80s from Radio Shack were the standard. The community has
legitimized itself in many ways. I always believed that wreaking havoc
was the main priority of hacking groups, and that their romantic fervor
for it could not be quelled. Bloodaxe's final letter in Phrack
exemplifies how mistaken I was. Not only is he disgusted by the
community, but he admits that he and his contemporaries may have grown
up. Perhaps, he is implying that many of their stunts were puerile.
I also did not expect that hackers would cross the line to aid the
corporate and government machines that they once opposed.
... – make both these texts quest narratives. These characteristics of a quest narrative have been noticed by many scholars and are present in almost all myths and fables. The hero of a quest narrative is a character many can relate to because like all human beings, we do not start out flawless but gain experience through trials and hardships. It is quite clear to see why cultures would pass down these quest narratives – they are inspirational and give hope. This is echoed strongly in “Sonny’s Blues” and “Araby”, making these texts timeless and allowing newer generations to relate to these stories just as well as the old ones.
Westen, D. (1998). The scientific legacy of Sigmund Freud: toward a psychodynamically informed psychological science. Psychological Bulletin, 124(3), 333.
James Baldwin's short story "Sonny's Blues" highlights the struggle because community involvement and individual identity. Baldwin's "leading theme - the discovery of identity - is nowhere presented more successfully than in the short story 'Sonny's Blues" (Reilly 56). Individuals breeds isolation and even persecution by the collective, dominant community. This conflict is illustrated in three ways. First, the story presents the alienation of Sonny from his brother, the unnamed narrator. Second, Sonny's legal problems suggest that independence can cause the individual to break society's legal conventions. Finally, the text draws heavily from biblical influences. Sonny returns to his family just like the prodigal son, after facing substantial trials and being humiliated. The story's allusion to the parable of the prodigal son reflects Baldwin's profound personal interest in Christianity and the bible.
Sigmund Freud is known as the founding father of psychology. If it wasn’t for Freud and his work psychology probably wouldn’t be around today (Javel, 1999). Although Freud had many followers there were some who didn’t agree with his work and found his work to be very controversial. There were also many who criticized his work, one of his most controversial and criticized work was his psychosexual stages of development and his believes about the famous “Oedipus Complex.” Psychoanalysis is the first known modality used to treat individuals with psychological disorders. Freud’s work was a foundation for many whether they believed in his work or not. From his work other psychologist
The United States spends vast amounts on its healthcare, while falling short of achieving superiority over other developed nations. One cannot overlook that the deepening recession has left many without jobs and therefore lacking health insurance. According to Fairhall and Steadman, (2009), even though the recession is hard on all, it is worse on the uninsured due to health care and insurance cost rising faster than incomes. Nevertheless, even those with jobs are lacking in health insurance due to employers, who provide insurance, are increasingly dropping their sponsored insurance. Many find that purchasing a health policy or paying for medical care out-of-pocket is cost prohibitive. “Since the recession began in December 2007, the number of unemployed Americans has increased by 3.6 million,” (Fairhall & Steadman, 2009). In 2009 it was stated that approximately 46 million Americans were uninsured, however not all of that number is due to the inability to afford coverage. According to a 2009 story written by Christopher Weaver of Kaiser Health News, 43% of that number should be classified as “voluntarily” uninsured. This subset of uninsured Americans consist of nearly half being young and healthy; therefo...
Who was Sigmund Freud? He is most commonly known as the father of psychoanalysis. His work sparked a chain of thinkers who can still be found today. The modern views on the brain and its workings can be traced back to Freud. How did he achieve such an accredited title and reputation? What influenced him? These questions can be answered through a look at Freud's childhood, adult life, and death.
Low income earners, in the neighborhood, continuously face dwindling health care resources. This is a great concern that has to be addressed and mitigated, failure to which they will continue to get poor quality health care and will also be reluctant to seek health care services over and over again. The poor and the disable within the community are economically unstable which makes them unable to access the existing insurance plan. It is of importance to note that they are the most vulnerable and the marginalized groups of people in the society. They lack economic capacity to access the existing plan making them lack better care as they require (Huntingto...
Homeland Security is one of the most important departments in the United States. The United States Department of Homeland Security job is to reduce our vulnerability to terrorism and lead a national effort to help prevent terrorist attacks on our nation (Computer Concept, pg. 50). As technology evolves over the course of time, computers end up playing a crucial role in homeland security.
Sigmund Freud, a physiologist, health physician, psychologist and husband of psychoanalysis, is ordinarily appreciated as one of the most influential and commanding thinkers of the twentieth century. Freud’s most meaningful and frequently reiterated allegation, that with psychoanalysis he had invented a novel science of the mind, however, this still remains the focus of much severe controversy and controversy.
The Truth about Hackers In the winter of the year 2000 an eighteen year old hacker, who went by the name Curador accessed about 26, 000 credit card numbers and put them on the internet. With the help of an ex-hacker, Curador was eventually tracked down and sentenced. All of this was explained in a frontline interview with Curador himself also known as Raphael Gray. Who are these so called hackers? Are peoples assumptions about teenage hackers correct? In 1995 the movie Hackers portrayed the images and lifestyles of hackers similar to the one mentioned above. The characters in Hackers show a media example of finding themselves in cyberspace by forming a community which creates their own boundaries. According to Coppin, hacking is the process of writing and reading code. People who code in an open range of society are hackers. The term a hack is often meant as a fast and dirty solution. Hackers are often confused with hackers are crackers. Crackers are people who break into or crack computer security systems (Coppin). In Hackers, high school cyberpunk teenagers get together and associate with the rave lifestyle known as techno. Due to the medias portrayal of the average hacker, people constantly associate hackers as teens with a love for techno music and rave-like gatherings. This is not necessarily true. Anyone can be a hacker. Even those with a family, a job, and an ideal lifestyle, including females have the potential of being a hacker. Therefore, no stereotypical labels should be placed on hackers due to their possible diversity. Hackers influences the way people tend to associate how everyday hackers are supposed to be. Hackers also show how hackers form their own cyber communities. They share simil...
“A segment is a set of buyers who share common needs or characteristics”(Marketing by Tony Gray (2000))
The idea that frankenstein creates life with his own hands and that god did not create life shows the influence of the enlightenment on mary shelley. Also the creature is an indication on the birth of science, as at the 19th century science had just become a profession. This shows the influence and power of science on mary shelley during this era, she is aware of the dangers of science as scientists can manipulate natural things to create creatures just like frankenstein's creature or even worse than that. Science is a critical point in this story because it makes the conflict of the story. With the power to create abnormal creatures, shelley shows the influence of science on humans and this is indicated when the creature recognises himself in the mirror. “At first I started back, unable to believe that it was indeed I who was reflected in the mirror; and when I became fully convinced that I was in reality the monster that I am, I was filled with the bitterest sensations of despondence and mortification (Shelley
According to the data given, by CTISP Community Survey 2010 by a Central Texas Region, Health care has a direct correlation to a person’s income or lack thereof. Table 1 displays a graph of respondents to a community survey about Health Care Coverage. The graph contains income amounts from $15,000 to $85,000 and percentages of people who do not receive coverage based on their income. The graph shows the lower the income the less likely to afford coverage. Table 2 displays, of those who took the survey their reasons for having no Coverage. The reason with the highest percentage was “could not afford prem...
According to three websites, the general definition of the word “hacker,” are: www.telecomsnews.co.uk/ states, “Computer users who understand the "ins and outs" of computers, networks, and the Internet in general.” www.computerdoctor.com stated, “The term used to describe computer users who attempt to gain unauthorized access to sites. Some hackers perform security audits for companies for a fee; other hackers steal information from companies for their own personal gain.” Finally, www.prenhall.com states, “People who break into computer systems with the intention of causing destruction”.
Hacking, as we know, is present in our society. From time to time, we see on the news how a website or a database was hacked and passwords or even some credit cards information have been stolen. All of these events affect our communities and make us wonder how safe we are from a cyber-attack, after all, all of important data like our social security number are stored on databases. Even government agencies have suffered this intrusion from a hacker that has put at risk the safety of its citizens. How it all did begin and how it affects our society?