It is hard to write a simple definition of something as varied as hacking, but I think what these activities have in common is playfulness, cleverness, and exploration. Thus, hacking means exploring the limits of what is possible, in a spirit of playful cleverness. Activities that display playful cleverness have "hack value".

One reason you should not use web applications to do your computing is that you lose control.

I did write some code in Java once, but that was the island in Indonesia.

Sharing knowledge is the most fundamental act of friendship. Because it is a way you can give something without loosing something.

People said I should accept the world. Bullshit! I don't accept the world.

I'm trying to change the way people approach knowledge and information in general. I think that to try to own knowledge, to try to control whether people are allowed to use it, or to try to stop other people from sharing it, is sabotage.

The idea that laws decide what is right or wrong is mistaken in general. Laws are, at their best, an attempt to achieve justice; to say that laws define justice or ethical conduct is turning things upside down.