A local optimum is the best solution within a subset of the available solutions, or within a region of the parameter space. This is in contrast to the global optimum, which is the best possible solution overall.
I'm a scientist and a hacker.
These days I'm mostly doing applied science: I identify problems, research solutions that others have found, use my imagination, and try to find the best solution that I can with the resources available. Often, I have found that scarcity of resources leads to greater creativity, which is unexpected fun! For example, a lack of processing power is incredibly annoying. But, it forces you to think about the problem more deeply, and in the end you might find solutions that are way faster than currently available methods.
I mostly try to annoy cybercrime gangs, the kind who operate across continents and borders at a low enough level that they are not targets of law enforcement. I don't pick the fights, they do: they send me SMS and email scams, so I respond and I give them stuff back. It's a fair deal in my opinion.
I only started learning the red-team stuff recently, but my god it's fun, especially when you leave metasploit behind and head into the great unknown and still get a shell. For the last 20 years, I was mostly interested in OpenBSD, firewalls, that kind of basic blue-team stuff, which is also fun.
If you got this far, well done I guess! Is there any more to read? I'm not interested in money, power, or glory. I'm driven to seek knowledge and help people. Best practice, basically. Ironically, when you do that, I've noticed that you are accused of lying, and trying to steal money, power, or glory, which is odd when you think about it. With such people, I once quoted Lord Voldemort as a joke and experiment, just to see what would happen. (Don't try that at home).
I code. I paint. I grow herbs and veg. I swim. I write music, play guitar, drums, bass. I go for long walks. I play golf. I paint warhammer models and play way too much world of warcraft. I'm most definitely not Lord Voldemort.