I remember talking with an anthropology professor of mine about cultural relativism: Looking at other cultures, the researcher is supposed to take a step back, so their own culture would not distort the interpretation of the culture they're examining. On the other hand - and here comes the contradiction - they are not supposed to become completely detached from their own culture. To my questioning of this latter part, he didn't have any good reason, other than that we all were brought up in our culture for a reason. Great. Basically we should not turn against the norms of our society (which includes being a good academic in the properly prescribed way, patting each other on the shoulder for being so culturally relative that we can write good academic publications without going against the mainstream). That was my first step of turning my back on academia, and embracing what you call hacking my (and other) cultures. Great post! A must resteem!