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Make things better by making better things.
For the original hackers, a “hack” wasn’t a shortcut. It was a craft.
Members of MIT’s Tech Model Railroad Club used the word hack to describe creative, hands-on tinkering and clever technical pranks. Because computers were technical, rare, and expensive, students who discovered ingenious programming shortcuts or elegant fixes started calling themselves hackers. The emphasis wasn’t on cutting corners; it was on pushing boundaries.
Over time, that meaning warped. Hack drifted from “creative solution to a hard problem” to “trick that helps you avoid the hard work altogether.” Today, our feeds are full of this mindset:
The irony is that we now have something those early hackers could only have dreamed of: an infinitely patient teacher with near-unlimited knowledge at our fingertips.
Yet instead of using that power to explore, experiment, and truly understand, we burn time hunting for one more hack—one more trick that promises to do the work for us.
Maybe it’s time to reclaim the original spirit of hacking.
Stop looking for ways around the work. Start looking for ways into it. Use your tools as a companion in creative, hands-on tinkering. Ask better questions. Run more experiments. Follow your curiosity down rabbit holes.
Because the real “hack” isn’t a secret prompt or a hidden feature. It’s the mindset that turns every problem into an invitation to play, learn, and build.