[hackerspaces] Does the maker culture get the step on the hackers culture?

[Mark Janssen]

>> I'm going to attempt to settle the matter.  A makerspace has machines
>> makes physical objects.  A hackerspace doesn't necessarily have
>> machines, but has computers and wifi.
>
> What do you call a space which has machines for making physical objects,
> which also has computers and wifi, which was founded primarily by software
> people who wanted a place to use their angle grinders, which is neither
> about politics nor entirely non-political, which does not have a community
> of its own but which emerged out of a larger, existing,
> semi-political-semi-artistic community, which it continues to serve but no
> longer precisely overlaps, which has no interest in becoming a 501(c)3 style
> nonprofit and basically doesn't run any educational programs, but also has
> no intention of ever making any money, which has a group of.
> non-democratically-elected managing members who bear formal political
> authority, but which in practical terms runs as a good-natured anarchist DIY
> do-ocracy...?
>
> We call it ALTSpace. I don't care whether you call it a hackerspace or a
> makerspace, it's a cool place either way.

You can call it what you want, friend, but without a business plan or
a larger economic/political agenda, I call it a clubhouse, which is
spelled: D-O-O-M-E-D.

> I believe there is something *inherently* political in the practice of
> self-organization for mutual benefit, whether or not the group has broader
> and more explicit political goals.

Without more *explicit* goals, you can go the way of sf_x which had a
great credentialed team of PhDs and committed individuals, yet
nonetheless dissipated by the power of entropy.

> I believe that the distinction between software and hardware hacking is
> growing steadily less meaningful as our civilization continues the process
> of automating everything in sight.

The distinction between hardware and software is more important than
you know, regardless of all those who would blur that distinction for
purposes of conflict and power.

> Diversity in forms and goals of hackerspaces is a good thing. No one box can
> hold us all. Why fuss about labels?

Well, consider corporations who protect their trademarks with
million-dollar legal teams.  I mean, no need to re-invent the wheel
here.  There must be something to it.

Marxos