The culture of mathematics is a strange topic. It is almost as important to the history of mathematics as the theorems that have come from it, yet it is rarely commented upon, and it is almost never taught in schools. One form of mathematical inquiry that has cropped up in the last two centuries has been the algorithm. While not exclusive to this time period, it has achieved a renaissance, and with the algorithm has come what has come to be known as "hacker culture". From Lord Byron to Richard Stallman, from scratches on paper to masses of wire, hacker culture has influenced the way in which we interact with conveniences that algorithms have endowed upon our society. So what are these advances? How have they been affected by the culture which birthed them? And what can we learn from this fragile yet pervasive relationship?

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