Common Circuits: Hacking Alternative Technological Futures

Murillo’s (anthropology, Univ. of Notre Dame) debut book is a social and anthropological study of hacker spaces, or open technology sites. He examines how the culture of curiosity, openness, and shared knowledge of computing’s early days has translated to modern global and capitalist environments. While embedded at three prominent open technology sites in San Francisco, Shenzhen, and Tokyo, Murillo compares the community ethos and prevailing motivations that govern their hierarchies and operations. In the U.S., a countercultural and consensus-driven model confronts its complicity in gentrification. In China, an entrepreneurial spirit disproportionately benefits those with resources, whereas in Japan, hackers respond to the aftermath of the Fukushima nuclear disaster by giving tools and data to the public. The dense theory and vocabulary of the first and last chapters show the strongest fingerprints of this book’s origins as a doctoral thesis. The book’s strength is when Murillo describes the daily workings of these varied spaces and interviews influential leaders and elucidates their ethical and moral frameworks around the democratization of technological skills, knowledge, and resources in the movements for open-source hardware and software.