Because I had the foresight to keep them in the car, twice (separated by 15 years and multiple cars) I’ve been able to say to friends, “put the hammer down I’ve got lock picks.”
In 1991 a dorky role playing game sparked my interest in lock picking and being employed working with the Internet, I turned to it and found the MIT lock picking guide. Computers, hacking, and lock picking all share an element of puzzle or problem solving. Eventually I read Nightwork:
A History of Hacks and Pranks at MIT By Institute Historian T. F. Peterson and learned more of the MIT Hacking community and its history. Before the term hacking became associated with computers, MIT undergraduates used it to describe any activity that took their minds off studying, suggested an unusual solution to a technical problem, or generally fostered nondestructive mischief. Hacks can be technical, physical, virtual, or verbal. Often the underlying motivation is to conquer the inaccessible and make possible the improbable.
Ultimately it’s about solving the problem, learning from it, and using the learned skills for good.
https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/nightwork
