Hmm, I'm not taking about hacking defaults, I'm talking about hacking functionality. I'm talking about making capabilities that didn't exist, all seamlessly part of my typical integrated text manipulation environment (that's way broader than editing)
The unique power of emacs is it doesn't have typical boundaries, so integrated personal unique functionality is possible. May well be a huge downfall, security wise - it rides a lot on security through obscurity.
Frankly it's taken me decades to properly appreciate how my computer experience can be so fungible. Most computer systems don't allow it.