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2 Genesis
by
Matt Giwer (c) 1994
"All of the files in this system you may access but of the
of the root of the tree of files you shall not access else thy
access shall be cut off."
Scholars are still unclear as to the meaning of the word
access. Some hold it is a variation upon the word excess meaning
man at one time was able to lead a life of "access" without
health consequences.
"And the hacker on the monitor and told the woman if you
access the root of the tree of files your access will not be cut
off but you will become like the gods knowing all the files and
having unlimited access."
Scholars are general agreement the hacker is one of a class
of impish spirits worshiped by the ancients and that the monitor
was rectangular device of glass and plastic to aid in worship
which the faithful would watch for hours at a time.
They are divided as to why a hacker would appear on a
monitor as hackers are generally believed to have been quite
independent spirits.
"The woman reached out her hands and accessed the root of
the tree of files and read of the files and found it enticing for
the wisdom it could give. She gave access to her husband and he
read of the wisdom. And their eyes were opened and they realized
how little they knew of the system. And they were ashamed and
they began to read fine[a] manuals."
This is commonly held to be the story of the beginning of
the systematic acquisition of knowledge by the human race with
the access to easy knowledge and help being cut off below.
"And they hear Sysop God walking through the halls and they
hid from Sysop God among the terminals. But Sysop God called to
the User 'Where are you?' he asked. 'I found the logs of you in
the root.'"
There is a confusion here where the value of access to the
root appears to be the files of the tree yet Sysop God refers to
logs which are the product of a cut down tree.
"And the User replied, 'I heard you in the halls and I was
afraid because of was so ignorant of the system.' 'Have you been
reading of the files of the access of root?' And the User said,
'the woman put me up to it.' And the woman said, 'The hacker put
me up to it.' And Sysop God said, 'Even Hewlett-Packard has
dropped daisy-chaining.' But the User did not understand as he
had not read the manual."
The following are the curses put upon the participants.
"To the hacker he said, 'Cursed will be you in the media.
No man shall ever understand you and you shall be blamed for
every system failure until the end of time. Hatred shall be upon
your head and the public shall fear you.' But the hacker was a
wily beast and parlayed this curse into a living."
The hacker had once been the most esteemed of spirits
esteemed for his knowledge and wisdom in all matters. The hacker
was believed to possess the ability to perform minor miracles.
After this curse the image of the hacker changes to that of a
dangerous spirit that is the bane of mankind.
"To the woman he said, 'Henceforth you will depend upon the
User for your knowledge of the computer and you will suffer his
preoccupation with it. In pain will you discover his new
hardware.'"
The woman had once been an equal the User having equal
access with him. After this curse she is dependent upon him and
his power over her will prevent her access to the terminal.
"To the User he said, 'Your system access shall be cut off
forever and you shall learn only by reading the manuals. You
shall learn everything on your own. F1 shall never work for you
again.'"