About Me
Several personality tests coincide with the Meyer-Briggs test
to give a result of: INTP
To me it's mostly accurate. However, I like to call myself a "shy exhibitionist". This is mainly due to the fact that I feel when we wake up every day, we put on a skin that protects us from other's opinions. We wear clothes that make us professional or presents our personality in a way that's both socially and visually acceptable to the people we interact with on a daily basis. Our actions are also conditioned to diplomatically interact with all the individuals we correspond with during the course of a day.
When we return home however, we choose to remove that skin and
allow ourselves to become who we really feel we are. We then
allow ourselves to be what we really want to be (or not - your choice)
and pursue aspects of our lives we don't readily share with others.
To do this makes us unique and thusly is a human trait as all
of us want to feel we're unique from one another. But in
public, we choose to conform to groups as socially that is how we
succeed in our goals both collectively and individually.
Clothing and image to me is flexible and fluid. As a hacker, one might say that I fit into the "geek" category. Honestly, that's a social hack. Social engineering requires that one perceives from you what you want them to see. If I were to stand on a stage and perform music to a live audience, one could say I'm a "rockstar". If one were to ask me to look after their children, my image would be one of a "father figure". When I'm cooking, due to the knowledge passed down to me from my family, one would see me as a "chef" due to the styles and types of food I cook along with my desire for good food. When my girlfriend asks me to go to a club, depending on the nature of the club - whether it be a jazz club where I'll "dress up" for the occassion or a dance club where I'll "dress trendy and smart" or even our private watering hole where I'll "dress casual", we're all just adapting ourselves for the occassion. Who I am is kept within me.
Many times, people find out through the course of conversation of my past. Usually they're in awe of what I've done and the knowledge that I've acquired. Truthfully, like many secrets we keep in society, that knowledge isn't meant for everyone. For instance, people know that prisons are incubators for sharing of criminal knowledge. Since I did "graduate" from one of those sorts of institutions, I have all kinds of knowledge that can provide me with fiscal and material gain.
However, I've never acted on those impulses as professionally, I live quite comfortably with what I've been given whether it be with thousands of dollars in the bank or cents in the bank. To me, use of that knowledge betrays what hacking is really about. Certainly one aspect of hacking is to will technology to your own needs, but where does one draw the moral line between "explorer" and "trespasser"? One might conclude that since my past involved using computer systems not meant for me to use that my moral line is blurred. My response to that is that the world has changed since then. Today, I can purchase the exact same systems I "infiltrated" on eBay for a tenth of the cost and own the equipment legitimately. The world has come along way since 1994. Any "hacking" I do is 100% legal in definition and law.
In fact, one of the forums I frequent called BinRev (short for Binary Revolution) is one of the more popular "hacking" forums out there. However, it's BinRev's mission to teach and encourage hacking that doesn't involve breaking the laws (whether they be legal or moral). As I'm retired from being an "Active" hacker, I find myself there not only for the social interaction and to keep abreast of new knowledge/techniques but as a "mentor" to younger generations to use their own moral compass and judgement when exploring our world.
Certainly they will make their mistakes just as I have. That is a way that we all learn.
But the cold reality is: The world has alot of people more nefarious than us.