Hackers (ISBN 0-441-00375-3) is an anthology of short stories edited by Jack Dann and Gardner Dozois. It contains stories by noted science fiction and cyberpunk writers of the late 1980s and early 1990s about hackers. ANThology is the first major label album by Alien Ant Farm. ... This article is in need of attention. ... Jack Dann (born February 15, 1945) is an American science fiction writer living in Australia. ... Gardner Dozois (born July 23, 1947) is an American science fiction author and editor. ... Science fiction is a form of speculative fiction principally dealing with the impact of imagined science and technology, or both, upon society and persons as individuals. ... Berlins Sony Center in Potsdamer Platz reflects the global reach of a Japanese corporation. ... The 1980s refers to the years of 1980 to 1989. ... This article is 150 kilobytes or more in size. ... This rendering of a likeness of grey hat hacker Adrian Lamo highlights the mystique surrounding hackers in the context of issues of right and wrong in the digital age. ...

"Burning Chrome"

This story was written by William Ford Gibson and was first published in Omni in 1982. It tells the story of two hackers who hack systems for profit. The two main characters are Bobby Quine who specializes in software and Automatic Jack who is more into hardware. Automatic Jack comes across a piece of Russian hacking software that is very sophisticated and hard to trace. A third character in the story is Rikki, a girl who Bobby becomes infatuated with and wants to hit it big for. The rest of the story unfolds with Bobby deciding to break into the system of a notorious hacker called Chrome, who handles money transfers for organized crime, and Automatic Jack reluctantly agreeing to help him. One line from this story — "...the street finds its own uses for things" — has become a widely-quoted aphorism for describing the sometimes unexpected uses to which users can put technologies (for example, hip-hop DJs' reinvention of the turntable, which changed it from a medium of reproduction into one of production). William Ford Gibson (born March 17, 1948, Conway, South Carolina) is an American-born science fiction author resident in Canada since 1968. ... Omni was a magazine that contained articles on science fact and short works of science fiction. ... It has been suggested that Criminal organization be merged into this article or section. ... Hip Hop-themed graffiti emerged in New York in the 1970s Hip hop (also set hip-hop or hiphop) is both a music genre and a cultural movement developed in urban communities starting in the 1970s, predominantly by African Americans and Latinos – primarily those of Puerto Rican ethnic heritage. ... DJ or dj may stand for Disc jockey, dinner jacket The DeadJournal website, or Djibouti. ...

This story and "Dogfight" were also published in a collection of William Gibson short stories, also titled Burning Chrome. Burning Chrome. ...

"Spirit of the Night"

This story was written by Tom Maddox, and was first published in Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine in 1987. This is the story of a man whose wife is kidnapped during a business dealing about bio computers. The man then finds out that his wife's electronic records have disappeared. Bound by his wife's love, he plunges back to his hacker days to track his wife's abductor, and even enlists the help of his old college hacking master. Thinking originally that it was the company involved in the business deal, he blackmails them, but then finds out that something else may be behind the ordeal. Tom Maddox is an American science-fiction writer, known for his part in the early cyberpunk movement. ... Asimovs Science Fiction is a science fiction magazine, first published in 1977 as Isaac Asimovs Science Fiction Magazine or IASFM for short. ...

"Blood Sisters"

This story was written by Greg Egan, and was first published in Interzone 44 in 1991. Two twin sisters in the near future find themselves in the middle of a World where a virus evolved through mutation and natural selection as part of biological warfare research has escaped. Both sisters become infected with a version of the virus, but only one of them survives. The surviving sister uses her hacking skills to find out the reason behind her sister's death, exact revenge and inform the public. Greg Egan (August 20, 1961, Perth, Western Australia) is an Australian computer programmer and science fiction author. ...

"Rock On"

This story was written by Pat Cadigan, and was first published in Light Years and Dark in 1984. This story takes place in a post-modern world where Rock and Roll is about to become extinct. Bands of the time have to use “sinners” (i.e. Synthesizer), or people who have experienced Rock and Roll in person, in order to realize their music. This is the story of one such sinner. Pat Cadigan (born 1953) is an American born science fiction author, whose work is sometimes described as part of the cyberpunk movement, although she does not classify herself in that way. ...

"The Pardoner's Tale"

This story was written by Robert Silverberg and was first published in Playboy in 1987. In the future, an alien species has colonized the Earth and used the humans' own information infrastructure to control them through their in-body implants. Hackers have become valuable because they can exploit the system. Some hackers have become known as pardoners because they can arrange for people to escape the aliens' sentences in exchange for profit. The story focuses on one of the best pardoners. He is bested in a hacking duel only to find out that his opponent is an android. The pardoner faces a mistake he made in his past and finds a way to escape by hacking the alien mainframe with the help of a woman he had swindled. At the 63rd World Science Fiction Convention in Glasgow, August 2005 Robert Silverberg (January 15, 1935, Brooklyn, New York) is a prolific American author best known for writing science fiction, a multiple winner of both the Hugo and Nebula Awards. ... The first issue of Playboy. ...

"Living Will"

This story was written by Alexander Jablokov and was first published in Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine in June 1991. A man inflicted with Alzheimer's disease programs his personality into a computer, and enlists the machine's help for his final wish. Alexander Jablokov (born 1956) is a U.S. writer and novelist. ... Asimovs Science Fiction is a science fiction magazine, first published in 1977 as Isaac Asimovs Science Fiction Magazine or IASFM for short. ...

"Dogfight"

This story was written by Michael Swanwick and William Gibson, and was first published in Omni in 1985. A lonely ex-shoplifter who suffers from a neural block preventing him from returning to his hometown of Washington DC, finds a female friend, whose parents have set a neural block on her to protect her virginity, sort of a mental chastity belt. He becomes enthralled by a new video game - Fokkers & Spads - where he engages in dogfights as a World War I fighter pilot and, with help from his female friend (a gifted hacker of both hardware and software) becomes one of the best fighters. To beat the very best fighter, though, he betrays and hurts his newfound friend only to find himself alone again after his victory over the crippled war-veteran Tiny. At the 63rd World Science Fiction Convention in Glasgow, August 2005 Michael Swanwick (born November 18, 1950) is an American science fiction author. ... William Ford Gibson (born March 17, 1948, Conway, South Carolina) is an American-born science fiction author resident in Canada since 1968. ... Omni was a magazine that contained articles on science fact and short works of science fiction. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Venetian chastity belt on display in the Doges palace. ... Fokker 100 of British Midland Airways For the physicist and musician, see Adriaan Fokker. ... SPAD S.VII The Société Pour LAviation et ses Dérivés, commonly known as SPAD, was a French aircraft manufacturer responsible for producing a number of significant fighter aircraft during the First World War. ... A dogfight or dog fight is a common term used to describe close-range aerial combat between military aircraft. ... Combatants Allied Powers: Russian Empire France British Empire Italy United States Central Powers: Austria-Hungary German Empire Ottoman Empire Bulgaria Commanders Nicholas II Aleksei Brusilov Georges Clemenceau Joseph Joffre Ferdinand Foch Robert Nivelle Herbert Henry Asquith Sir Douglas Haig Sir John Jellicoe Victor Emmanuel III Luigi Cadorna Armando Diaz Woodrow... The Red Baron, Manfred von Richthofen, perhaps the most famous ace of all. ...

The story is very typical of the cyberpunk genre in that its mood never rises from the melancholy and that the protagonist ends up suffering a kind of Pyrrhic victory, realizing too late that succeeding in his endeavor (winning the game) is actually worthless. As in film noir, the theme of betrayal exists strongly in the tale, as the protagonist sacrifices everything around him to succeed. A Pyrrhic victory is a victory with devastating cost to the victor. ... This still from The Big Combo (1955) demonstrates the visual style of film noir at its most extreme. ...

"Our Neural Chernobyl"

This story was written by Bruce Sterling, and was first published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction in 1988. In a bizarre future, free from AIDS and genetic diseases, everyone can be a human genome hacker. One such hacker/scientist, while trying to find a way for the human body to become a cocaine-producing factory, engineers a virus that enriches the dendritic connections of mammalian brains. This virus seems to produce eccentric, absent-minded geniuses, but most humans are apparently immune to this neural Chernobyl (though the reader should be aware of the possibility of an unreliable narrator). Instead, it is animals that suffer the most obvious changes as a result of this virus, leading to more intelligent dogs and cats, as well as a culturally-aware raccoon society. Bruce Sterling at the Ars Electronica Festival Michael Bruce Sterling (born April 14, 1954) is an American science fiction author, best known for his novels and his seminal work on the Mirrorshades anthology, which defined the cyberpunk genre. ... F&SF April 1971, special Poul Anderson issue. ... This article is about the syndrome. ... In biology the genome of an organism is the whole hereditary information of an organism that is encoded in the DNA (or, for some viruses, RNA). ... The term Dendrite stems from the Greek word dendron (literally “tree”), and typically refers to the branched projections of a neuron that act to conduct the electrical stimulation received from other cells to and from the cell body, or soma of the neuron from which the dendrites project. ... Chernobyl area. ... In literature and film, an unreliable narrator (a term coined by Wayne C. Booth in his 1961 book The Rhetoric of Fiction[1]) is a literary device in which the credibility of the narrator is seriously compromised. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

"(Learning About) Machine Sex"

This story was written by Candas Jane Dorsey, and was first published in Machine Sex and Other Stories in 1988. A young female hacker, coming to terms with her own sexuality, invents "wet-ware": software and hardware that can plug into the human body, and has the ability to sexually stimulate men. Candas Jane Dorsey (born November 16, Canadian poet and science fiction novelist who lives in Edmonton, Alberta. ...

"Conversations with Michael"

This story was written by Daniel Marcus, and was first published in Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine in 1994. A couple is faced with having to deal with the loss of their child due to a partial nuclear meltdown. The mother comes to terms with the loss by having conversations with her son in a virtual reality setting, at first assisted by an analyst and then on her own. The father cannot come to terms with the loss of his son, and instead immerses himself in virtual reality almost completely, disregarding even his own health. Asimovs Science Fiction is a science fiction magazine, first published in 1977 as Isaac Asimovs Science Fiction Magazine or IASFM for short. ...

"Gene Wars"

This story was written by Paul J. McAuley, and was first published in Interzone 48 in 1991. The story tells of the progress that humanity makes by hacking genes. It originally starts with companies using their power and knowledge to profit by introducing stronger crops and presenting a cure for HIV, but then it progresses into a genetic war as people and countries make use of these new genes without licensing them from the companies that made them. The story's main character is Evan, who finds himself in the middle of the gene wars immediately after graduating with a degree in molecular genetics. He becomes deeply involved in his company's business, but is eventually infected with a Trojan horse that removes the loyalty genes the companies had put into him. Evan makes a cure for HIV available and eventually brings about a fundamental change in genetics that allows people to change and shape their own bodies. No one has to die anymore and some people, greens, even choose to get all their sustenance from the sun. In a telling quote from the story Evan says, "I remember when you knew what a human being was, I suppose I'm old-fashioned, but there it is." Paul McAuley (born April 23, 1955), a British botanist, award-winning author, and self-described science junkie. ... Human immunodeficiency virus or HIV is a retrovirus that causes Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which the immune system begins to fail, leading to life-threatening opportunistic infections. ... // For other uses, see Trojan Horse (disambiguation). ...

"Spew"

This story was written by Neal Stephenson, and was first published in Wired in 1994. The story is presented in the form of a letter from the main character, Stark, to a female cypherpunk whom he meets in the course of his work. In the story, most information and media channels are hooked together in something called the Spew. This is a version of today's Internet, except it congregates all sorts of information (from credit card transactions, to security camera feeds). It is possible to profile people in a most complete way because the Spew was allowed by the government to be insecure. Stark is hired as a Profile Auditor, someone who tracks other people and their profiles in the Spew in order to track consumer trends. He does this inside the Demosphere, or in DemoTainment Space, which is a virtual reality representation of the Spew. He comes across a woman whose profile seems "too normal" and discovers that she is a cypherpunk, using the Spew to her own advantage without being tracked. Neal Town Stephenson (born October 31, 1959) is an American writer, known primarily for his science fiction works in the postcyberpunk genre with a penchant for explorations of society, mathematics, currency, and the history of science. ... Wired is a full-color monthly magazine and on-line periodical published in San Francisco, California since March 1993. ... The cypherpunks (from cipher and punk) comprise an informal group of people interested in privacy and cryptography who originally communicated through the cypherpunks mailing list. ... Virtual reality (VR) is a technology which allows a user to interact with a computer-simulated environment, be it a real or imagined one. ...

"Tangents"

This story was written by Greg Bear, and was first published in Omni in 1986. Pal Tremont, a Korean boy who likes classical music, is adopted by an American family and comes into the life of Peter Tuthy and writer Lauren Davies. Peter is a mathematician and computer hacker who is very interested in 4-dimensional space (4-D). Lauren wants Pal to help her with her writings, but Pal is more useful to Peter as he can easily visualize 4-D space. Pal is able to see a whole new world, inhabited by 4-D beings and is even able to play 4-D music for them. The beings eventually make contact and take Pal and Peter into their own world. Gregory Dale Bear (born August 20, 1951) is a science fiction author. ... Omni was a magazine that contained articles on science fact and short works of science fiction. ... Classical music is a broad, somewhat imprecise term, referring to music produced in, or rooted in the traditions of, European art, ecclesiastical and concert music, encompassing a broad period from roughly 1000 to the present day. ... Cube with fourth-dimensional directions (ana/kata) creating a hypercube. ...