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One day in the future, Samy (the creator of this) will stop being the coolest person on the internet, but today isn't that day. Previous projects include: The

One day in the future, Samy (the creator of this) will stop being the coolest person on the internet, but today isn't that day. Previous projects include: The Samy MySpace worm: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samy_%28computer_worm%29 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samy_%28computer_worm%29 EverCookies: http://samy.pl/evercookie/ http://samy.pl/evercookie/ SkyJack: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SkyJack https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SkyJack And so much more... http://samy.pl/ http://samy.pl/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samy_Kamkar https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samy_Kamkar

saganus 11y ago
Oh wow... shit... it's the same guy for all of these indeed. I think I would've been super proud of myself just for accomplishing even one of these things... I guess these are the type of guys that would start to approach the definition of a modern polymath maybe? Not saying he is one necessarily (or that he isn't), but what would examples of modern polymaths are there? considering a lot of the fields to be mastered need enough detail and knowledge that it seems hard to find one.
- eggy 11y ago
  Yes, he has quite a resume there. However, maybe I'm just older, but my ideal polymath is not just coding/hacking electronics. I personally think it should be those plus knowing more diverse fields and skills such as: applied mathematics, celestial navigation, biohacking, chemistry, milling/lathe work, building machinery from scratch by smelting and casting [1], animatronics, boatbuilding, horology, mechatronics, music, languages etc... I picked these things, because they are things I personally strive to keep learning. They are not everybody's list. I guess today the emphasis is on coding/small electronics because of the world it opens up to you (except those things that are purely mechanical or require other skills). In any case, my hat is off to him. Impressive! [1] http://gingerybooks.com/
  - saganus 11y ago
    Do you have any examples of someone that would fit this description? I think a modern polymath could look a bit different than the ones in the classical sense. To be able to make contributions to the fields you mentioned, I guess you would need more years of study than anyone could dedicate to, just because those fields seem to be very hard, especially considering the degree at which nowadays we would consider someone proficient in any of these. Well, I'm not sure, I'm actually wondering. For your particular definition, or something close to it, who would you say it gets close?
    - steve19 11y ago
      Ben Krasnow is easily one. The amount that guys knows about everything (electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, material science, chemistry and some programming) is staggering. His Youtube channel is great. https://www.youtube.com/user/bkraz333 https://www.youtube.com/user/bkraz333 http://benkrasnow.blogspot.com/ http://benkrasnow.blogspot.com/
    - atmosx 11y ago
      Archimedes, Da Vinci, I. Newton are just a few that came to mind.
      - e12e 11y ago
        Tesla?
      - celticninja 11y ago
        anyone more recent? You see it seems to be that it was a lot easier to know a lot when there was a lot less to know. Now people tend to specialise in one field and know a lot about that field as opposed to knowing quite a bit about a multitude of fields.
        atmosx 11y ago
        You're right. I guess there are polymaths at this age and time, we just don't know about them. Maybe as you imply, it's impossible nowadays to stand out of the crowd the way Newton, Archimedes, Gauss, Tesla (as another commentator pointed out) did in the past.
  - brbsix 11y ago
    Wow, surprised to see Gingery books are still around! They got me started melting down aluminum cans with a coffee can charcoal furnace as a kid. I always wanted to build the lathe but never got around to it.
negativity 11y ago
SkyJack is a drone engineered to autonomously seek out, hack, and wirelessly take over other drones within wifi distance, creating an army of zombie drones under your control. ...and then: No authentication or encryption is used by the Parrot to secure the connection with the pilot. Well, there's your problem!
- akama 11y ago
  It's actually just a wireless network that you connect to and send commands to the Parrot. It makes it really easy to control it from your laptop. There is a library for it that makes it possible to be up and running in under 5 minutes. Library: https://github.com/felixge/node-ar-drone https://github.com/felixge/node-ar-drone
chrsstrm 11y ago
He's got a one-page profile in the Star Wars issue of Wired that I read today (probably the December issue)
artursapek 11y ago
He was banned from using computers for 3 years as a result of the MySpace worm? That's ridiculous.
- i336_ 11y ago
  The number of times I've seen what seems like the Hackers script got borrowed and applied to real life - people being banned from using computers for an arbitrary length of time - is just silly.
namocat 11y ago
So what you're basically saying is: "samy is my hero"?

saganus 11y ago

Oh wow... shit... it's the same guy for all of these indeed. I think I would've been super proud of myself just for accomplishing even one of these things... I guess these are the type of guys that would start to approach the definition of a modern polymath maybe? Not saying he is one necessarily (or that he isn't), but what would examples of modern polymaths are there? considering a lot of the fields to be mastered need enough detail and knowledge that it seems hard to find one.

eggy 11y ago
Yes, he has quite a resume there. However, maybe I'm just older, but my ideal polymath is not just coding/hacking electronics. I personally think it should be those plus knowing more diverse fields and skills such as: applied mathematics, celestial navigation, biohacking, chemistry, milling/lathe work, building machinery from scratch by smelting and casting [1], animatronics, boatbuilding, horology, mechatronics, music, languages etc... I picked these things, because they are things I personally strive to keep learning. They are not everybody's list. I guess today the emphasis is on coding/small electronics because of the world it opens up to you (except those things that are purely mechanical or require other skills). In any case, my hat is off to him. Impressive! [1] http://gingerybooks.com/
- saganus 11y ago
  Do you have any examples of someone that would fit this description? I think a modern polymath could look a bit different than the ones in the classical sense. To be able to make contributions to the fields you mentioned, I guess you would need more years of study than anyone could dedicate to, just because those fields seem to be very hard, especially considering the degree at which nowadays we would consider someone proficient in any of these. Well, I'm not sure, I'm actually wondering. For your particular definition, or something close to it, who would you say it gets close?
  - steve19 11y ago
    Ben Krasnow is easily one. The amount that guys knows about everything (electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, material science, chemistry and some programming) is staggering. His Youtube channel is great. https://www.youtube.com/user/bkraz333 https://www.youtube.com/user/bkraz333 http://benkrasnow.blogspot.com/ http://benkrasnow.blogspot.com/
  - atmosx 11y ago
    Archimedes, Da Vinci, I. Newton are just a few that came to mind.
    - e12e 11y ago
      Tesla?
    - celticninja 11y ago
      anyone more recent? You see it seems to be that it was a lot easier to know a lot when there was a lot less to know. Now people tend to specialise in one field and know a lot about that field as opposed to knowing quite a bit about a multitude of fields.
      - atmosx 11y ago
        You're right. I guess there are polymaths at this age and time, we just don't know about them. Maybe as you imply, it's impossible nowadays to stand out of the crowd the way Newton, Archimedes, Gauss, Tesla (as another commentator pointed out) did in the past.
- brbsix 11y ago
  Wow, surprised to see Gingery books are still around! They got me started melting down aluminum cans with a coffee can charcoal furnace as a kid. I always wanted to build the lathe but never got around to it.

negativity 11y ago

SkyJack is a drone engineered to autonomously seek out, hack, and wirelessly take over other drones within wifi distance, creating an army of zombie drones under your control. ...and then: No authentication or encryption is used by the Parrot to secure the connection with the pilot. Well, there's your problem!

akama 11y ago
It's actually just a wireless network that you connect to and send commands to the Parrot. It makes it really easy to control it from your laptop. There is a library for it that makes it possible to be up and running in under 5 minutes. Library: https://github.com/felixge/node-ar-drone https://github.com/felixge/node-ar-drone

chrsstrm 11y ago

He's got a one-page profile in the Star Wars issue of Wired that I read today (probably the December issue)

artursapek 11y ago

He was banned from using computers for 3 years as a result of the MySpace worm? That's ridiculous.

i336_ 11y ago
The number of times I've seen what seems like the Hackers script got borrowed and applied to real life - people being banned from using computers for an arbitrary length of time - is just silly.

namocat 11y ago

So what you're basically saying is: "samy is my hero"?