Now That Tech Runs the World, Let’s Retire the Hacker Ideal

Virgil Griffith discovered the allure of hacking in 1993, while slumped at an Intel 80386 system in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. He was 10, and he was on a losing streak at Star Wars: X-Wing. To hit the leader­board, he’d need a fleet of ace wingmen, but he only had one X-Wing fighter that could hold its …