The Hacker Ethic cannot survive in its true form in the commercial space, because making money is nowhere near the goals of the Ethic, and in fact in some ways antithetical to it. This isn’t to say that a person or organization cannot follow the Hacker Ethic anymore, but it would be difficult for them to survive in the marketplace without assistance. It can survive, however, in our heavily commercialized world as long as it is separate from the market.

Even a Hacker Ethic adherent needs a way to pay the bills; they could be dependent on someone else (usually their parents), they could have a day job and program in their free time, or they could have money accumulated elsewhere (such as family wealth or retirement savings). The first scenario covers many young hackers, usually teenagers who program in their free time outside of school and work (I was one of them, to some extent). Their hacking is not restricted by anything but their motivation, time, and resources: they don’t have to worry about deadlines, bureaucracy, profits, or market viability. In this way, they are able to stay true to the Hacker Ethic, although only because they are outside of the commercial world. The second scenario is similar to the first and represents a practical path for a hacker needing to make a living. Once again they are operating this non-work part of their life outside of the commercial world, and frequently they will have a day job working with computers and will have to compromise the Hacker Ethic in that sphere.

It is theoretically possible for a commercially viable company or individual to perfectly follow the Hacker Ethic: distributing their product at cost instead of seeking a large profit, not using a hierarchical organizational structure, freely sharing information (even with competitors), and doing social good with their product. However, you do not need to be a business major to realize that such a company would be highly unlikely to survive without some alternate funding source. A true hacker would say that an organization like this would make very high-quality products, since they are motivated by a love of what they are doing and they are no obstacles to doing it. It is difficult to convince a Third-Generation Hacker (or most people in today’s society) to work for hours on end without a substantial paycheck, but the AI Lab hackers were happy to do so without a thought to making money.

It is generally better (though somewhat impractical) to be a programmer with love for computing in your heart than a corporate professional. Money is necessary to survive, and money, fame, power, and position bring temporary happiness. I strive to focus on things I enjoy, in order to bring fulfillment and happiness and ward off greed. (I am fortunate that this happens to involve working with computers, although I must continue to ensure that my priorities are properly ordered.) This comes with a major caveat, however: one must make sure that their love of computing has an appropriate place in their life. This varies from person to person (many of the people in Hackers likely would have seen the enormous size of computing in their life as “appropriate”), but most people also need plenty of focus on physical and mental health and relationships, for example, to live good, happy lives.