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Satire

The Difference Between hackers And Painters

A collection of Paul Graham’s essays is going to be published by O’Reilley under the title “Hackers and Painters”.
Book announcement.
The title comes from a lecture/essay of Graham’s.
Original Hackers and Painters article.
The art/science commonality (both order signifiers) was made in an article in Leonardo many years ago, and it wasn’t new then (Constable said that “Art is a science…of which paintings are but the experiments”). Graham makes the correct point that hacker culture is vanguard at the moment. So for social history of art, hacker culture is currently very important, although not for the reasons new media dilettantes and their sponsors claim.
The difference between hackers and painters is what they drink. Hackers drink caffeine, painters drink alcohol. Both suppress seratonin (IIRC), but alcohol is a relaxant whilst caffeine increases stress levels. Go figure. Go ground.