[FRIAM] The epiphenomenality relation

[uǝlƃ ☤>$]

I argue, No. The point of hacking has nothing to do with bugs. It has to do with exploits. You can exploit either a purposefully designed in feature *or* an accidentally built in bug.

We can put sensitivity analysis and stress testing on a spectrum *with* hacking. Penetration testing is on that spectrum, bridging between hacking and using the device as intended.

As for the word, itself, I tend to use "hack" to mean anything *playful* and "crack" as the exploitation for personal gain. So while a white hat hacker tries to find exploits, a black hat "hacker" tries to crack the device for exploit/profit.

But to each her own. It's not the word that's important. It's the concept and the behavior.

On 11/29/21 9:19 AM, Steve Smith wrote:
> Isn't the *point* of hacking to discover ways to use "bugs" of an intentionally designed system *as* "features", often in combination with other bugs/features?   Maybe *I* impute too much into the idea of "hacking"?  (does one impute *into* or *onto* BTW?)
> 
> I admit, when I follow clickbait with "hack" in the title sometimes the target of the hack is a system *not* designed/built by humans with intentions which the "hack" is overcoming/circumventing/re-tasking... but I don't think of that as a "hack" as much as "thoughtful understanding".  The vernacular use of "hack" seems overly broad to me.
> 
> I suppose the character of Sherlock Holmes is characterized by the overlap of these two abilities (encyclopedic knowledge of human-built and natural systems, along with an acute analytic ability to deduce and infer and and a similar acute ability to synthesize disparate elements of those systems to achieve a specific purpose)?   Though I suppose the latter is more in the domain of the Archetype "McGuyver", leaving Sherlock more to the domain of engineering *humans* to admit to or demonstrate their culpability in something or another.   McGuyver seems to be intent on breaking or remaking things to fulfill his own current desire.

-- 
"Better to be slapped with the truth than kissed with a lie."
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