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(:nl:)''The Preventive System of today vis-a-vis the Hacker of today''

I began this book by linking 'hacker' and 'heaven'. One of the questions left hanging towards the end of the first chapter was whether or not 'heaven' can inform the world of the 'hacker' in some way. Now, in the context of the Preventive System, is the time to try to answer that question.

The shift that has gone on in patterns of human relationships via communications is one that the young in particular are part of. Indeed, while adults see the 'shift' because they have lived longer, the young simply take it as normal – in due course they will reflect on other shifts as things change and they grow older. The 'hacker' is not the only symbol of the changes, but it is the one we have been working with in this book. There are fonts of human and divine wisdom available in our world via age-old religious traditions. These religious traditions learn to speak to the contemporary age, albeit slowly at times, but that slowness is understandable. Bringing the weight of long human experience, divine revelation where that is claimed, to fast moving developments, can be a tricky business.

The Preventive System is firmly anchored in the Christian, Catholic tradition, and is a living body of experience and practice which has already demonstrated its flexibility and adaptability to the contemporary world and hundreds of living cultures. It is also focused on the young, on formative adult-young relationships. It is not afraid to use 'heaven' in its language and as a goal of its action. By all these accounts, then, it is well placed to inform the world of the hacker as we have described that term in these pages.

If the Preventive System is about communication and understanding, developing connections, dialogue, friendship – and it is, in the context of family, church, school and playground, then it has something to say to the digital generation.

In his World Communications Day message for 2009, Pope Benedict XVI, who despite his age is showing himself to be every bit the impressive digital immigrant, has this to say:

-> The desire for connectedness and the instinct for communication that are so obvious in contemporary culture are best understood as modern manifestations of the basic and enduring propensity of humans to reach beyond themselves and to seek communion with others. In reality, when we open ourselves to others, we are fulfilling our deepest need and becoming more fully human. Loving is, in fact, what we are designed for by our Creator. Naturally, I am not talking about fleeting, shallow relationships, I am talking about the real love that is at the very heart of Jesus’ moral teaching: "You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength" and "You must love your neighbour as yourself" (cf. Mk 12:30-31). In this light, reflecting on the significance of the new technologies, it is important to focus not just on their undoubted capacity to foster contact between people, but on the quality of the content that is put into circulation using these means. I would encourage all people of good will who are active in the emerging environment of digital communication to commit themselves to promoting a culture of respect, dialogue and friendship. (WCD Message 2009 http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/messages/communications/documents/hf_ben-xvi_mes_20090124_43rd-world-communications-day_en.html).

Those final three nouns are crucial to the Preventive System too, and must be for today's hacker, I suggest: respect, dialogue and freedom. In this context respect is about respect for the dignity of human beings, dialogue is understood as something that can take place also within cyberspace, but genuine dialogue which is ultimately about seeking the true, the good and the beautiful. Friendship has been given a renewed impetus in digital terms, but is more than just contact and 'virtual'. Nor is it just about having established contact, but is really about nurturing other human beings or being nurtured by them. 'Friendship', says Pope Benedict, 'is one of the noblest achievements of human culture'.

The Preventive System is not only about raising young people in a certain atmosphere, giving them solid values for life; it is also about urging them to responsibility for society ('Good Christians, uprights citizens', remember). Pope Benedict now uses a term that young people will identify with instinctively – instead of talking generically about contribution to society, he asks them to 'take on responsibility for the evangelisation of this digital continent'. I note that quite often in the world of digital exchange, especially amongst people closely involved with technology, software, the word 'evangelise' is in frequent use. Of course, it has been borrowed in quite recent times from the Church. The Pope does well, I believe, to bring it straight back to its proper context. And if anyone is going to be able to carry out this task in the 'digital continent', it is going to be today's digital native and hacker.

Chapter 1(:nl:)