13 ms·

The problem with that movie is that it seems to describe Mark as both evil and a genius hacker. I think he's neither.

frisco 16y ago
I've definitely heard accounts from credible hackers that Zuck is up there. I don't know him personally, but I wouldn't be surprised. I do like Lessig's point that "Zuck's a genius, but so are many". There's a lot of insecurity around places like HN where people go, "baw, Zuck can't be a genius, because then not only would he be wealthier and more famous than me, but he'd also be more capable!" The "who's smarter?" argument is really a waste of time. It's highly likely that Zuck is an absurdly strong engineer. But, so are many others, possibly you included. Build until you hit your natural limits; before that, no one has any idea how "smart" you are, yourself included. Find your own market to win instead of taking the respect and credit away from him.
- anigbrowl 16y ago
  I'm a great deal more impressed by his status as the battle-tested CEO of a global behemoth at age 24 even though it is fashionable to dislike him. I've met a lot of skilled and innovative programmers, but self-made billionaires are in short supply.
  - frisco 16y ago
    Factual: Zuck is 26. But your point remains.
    - enjo 16y ago
      Didn't the point still hold at 24?
      - frisco 16y ago
        Yes, that's what "But your point remains" means. It implies it stood at 24.
  - borism 16y ago
    battle-tested CEO of a global behemoth? Care to explain?
    - anigbrowl 16y ago
      I apologize for overlooking your comment. by 'battle-tested' I meant having experiences of challenges, lawsuits, and highly public criticism - he has not seen it all, but he's not had a free ride either. And by global behemoth, I refer to the considerable market and financial power of Facebook the company, and the difficulty of effectively controlling such a large entity. The difference between managing that compared to a typical small business is like that of maneuvering a fully-loaded semi-truck vs a small motorcycle.
rokhayakebe 16y ago
You can say what you want, but anyone who has been to go from 0 to a net worth of 5 billion is a "fucking" genius. Good genius, bad genius, I don't know, but genius for sure.
- patrickaljord 16y ago
  When I say that he's not a genius hacker, I mean he is not a great programmer but I'm sure he's pretty smart. However, being smart doesn't equate being a great programmer and that's how the movie seems to describe him writing math formulas on a window, which is ridiculous.
  - deleted 16y ago
    [deleted]
  - eat 16y ago
    Have you worked on a team with him, or reviewed his code? Also, he doesn't write any math formulas on a window in the movie; his CFO does.
jolie 16y ago
The movie doesn't portray him as evil at all, imo. He comes off as witty and quite good at evaluating risk. As for his hacking abilities, I've heard stories that he's not (or is no longer) among the best; perhaps he's better at coming up with creative uses for a system than actual coding. And for what it's worth, I don't think the movie made him out to be a "genius hacker" in the coding sense -- more a genius hacker of what the Internet was intended to be.
deleted 16y ago
[deleted]

I've definitely heard accounts from credible hackers that Zuck is up there. I don't know him personally, but I wouldn't be surprised. I do like Lessig's point that "Zuck's a genius, but so are many". There's a lot of insecurity around places like HN where people go, "baw, Zuck can't be a genius, because then not only would he be wealthier and more famous than me, but he'd also be more capable!" The "who's smarter?" argument is really a waste of time. It's highly likely that Zuck is an absurdly strong engineer. But, so are many others, possibly you included. Build until you hit your natural limits; before that, no one has any idea how "smart" you are, yourself included. Find your own market to win instead of taking the respect and credit away from him.

anigbrowl 16y ago
I'm a great deal more impressed by his status as the battle-tested CEO of a global behemoth at age 24 even though it is fashionable to dislike him. I've met a lot of skilled and innovative programmers, but self-made billionaires are in short supply.
- frisco 16y ago
  Factual: Zuck is 26. But your point remains.
  - enjo 16y ago
    Didn't the point still hold at 24?
    - frisco 16y ago
      Yes, that's what "But your point remains" means. It implies it stood at 24.
- borism 16y ago
  battle-tested CEO of a global behemoth? Care to explain?
  - anigbrowl 16y ago
    I apologize for overlooking your comment. by 'battle-tested' I meant having experiences of challenges, lawsuits, and highly public criticism - he has not seen it all, but he's not had a free ride either. And by global behemoth, I refer to the considerable market and financial power of Facebook the company, and the difficulty of effectively controlling such a large entity. The difference between managing that compared to a typical small business is like that of maneuvering a fully-loaded semi-truck vs a small motorcycle.

rokhayakebe 16y ago

You can say what you want, but anyone who has been to go from 0 to a net worth of 5 billion is a "fucking" genius. Good genius, bad genius, I don't know, but genius for sure.

patrickaljord 16y ago
When I say that he's not a genius hacker, I mean he is not a great programmer but I'm sure he's pretty smart. However, being smart doesn't equate being a great programmer and that's how the movie seems to describe him writing math formulas on a window, which is ridiculous.
- deleted 16y ago
  [deleted]
- eat 16y ago
  Have you worked on a team with him, or reviewed his code? Also, he doesn't write any math formulas on a window in the movie; his CFO does.

jolie 16y ago

The movie doesn't portray him as evil at all, imo. He comes off as witty and quite good at evaluating risk. As for his hacking abilities, I've heard stories that he's not (or is no longer) among the best; perhaps he's better at coming up with creative uses for a system than actual coding. And for what it's worth, I don't think the movie made him out to be a "genius hacker" in the coding sense -- more a genius hacker of what the Internet was intended to be.

deleted 16y ago

[deleted]