Reality hackers, nuts, flakes, entrepreneurs, trippers, conmen, students, artists, mad engineers—Californians with the naïve belief that a) There is a Better Way and b) I Can Do It Myself. To put it in a clear gelatin capsule for you, I’d say that (a) and (b) are the two beliefs that underlie every single entry in the “Mondo 2000 User’s Guide.” The way that Big Business or The Pig does things is obviously not the best way; it’s intrusive, kludgy, unkind, and not at all what you really want … Now, thanks to high-tech and the breakdown of society, you’re free to turn your back on the way “they” do it, whatever it might be, and do it yourself.

Alice E. Marwick, Status Update, loc. 127