Hacking is a fundamentally philosophical activity.
It's taking the position that things like "purpose" and "function" are not fixed and static characteristics, but fluid and dynamic ones — that the purpose of a thing is not what it is, but what it does. Purpose can flow into and out of a thing like water.
It's seeing the truth of a thing — its components and construction — and all of the purposes that can inhabit it.
It's a demonstration that fate isn't real and that all things are malleable.