Computers and Hacking: A 50-Year View

[Slides for a 20-minute keynote talk for the MIT HackMIT hackathon weekend, Saturday, September 14, 2019.] Fifty years ago, computers were expensive, institutional rather than personal, and hard to get access to. Today computers are relatively inexpensive, personal well as institutional, and ubiquitous. Some of the best hacking—and engineering—today involves creative use of relatively limited (and therefore cost-effective) computer resources.