[conspire] I with I have $5000 for everyone who died of Wuhan-19

[Rick Moen]

Quoting Paul Zander (paulz at ieee.org):

> We just have to accept that meanings of words can change with time,
> and you and I don't get a democratic vote.  How about hacker?   It
> used to be someone who just messed around with computers mostly for
> curiosity.  Then it became associated with criminal activities.  

I've been giving the word a rest, again, on grounds of that being not
the right metaphorical hill to die on.  'Intruder' or 'computer
criminal' will do well enough for one meaning, and 'genius coder' or any
number of similar phrasings will do fine for the other.

Using a contested or clouded phrase and either being misunderstood or
having to also prophylatically explain what you mean gets old pretty much
immediately.  I'm reminded of the wise advice Marcus Ranum sarcastically 
attributed to Sun Tzu about 'if you are fighting a losing battle' in his
essay 'What Sun Tzu Would Say':

  The Tale of Wise Master Sun and the Prince's Patching Policy

  It happened that The Prince of Wu was reading a bunch of Master Sun's
  USENET postings and concluded that Master Sun was wise in the way of
  strategy. Sending his bannermen forth, he offered Master Sun a golden
  Ipod in return for a brief consulting visit in which The Master was to
  assess Prince Wu's Patching Policy. Prince Wu had been to numerous
  security conferences, and subscribed to the daily scrolls from Master
  SANS, and spent 3 hours per day meditating to achieve Security Focus -
  he was sure that Master Sun would be impressed with his efforts and
  would position him well in the Magic Quadrant of visionaries. The day
  came when Master Sun came to audit Prince Wu's fortifications and
  Patching Policy. Alighting from his palanquin, which was carried by
  mighty slaves, Master Sun sniffed the air and quickly observed to the
  attentive Prince Wu:

  If you are fighting a losing battle, it is likely one of three things:
  a) You are continuing a trend in a losing war - and therefore should not
     be surprised
  b) You have chosen to fight the wrong battle
  c) You are stupid

  Master Sun cocked an eyebrow, "which applies here?" Then he pocketed the
  golden Ipod, packetized himself back into his palanquin, and went home.
  Prince Wu fell to his knees, enlightened, had his Internet-facing
  servants all put to death, and never installed another patch in all his
  days.

https://www.ranum.com/security/computer_security/editorials/master-tzu/