HN Theater @HNTheaterMonth

The original interview is from December 10, 2020.

The follow-up interview from March 12, 2022:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZtkMmVDNEo

⬐ Gatsky

First interview about his life story was great.

Second interview was quite different. He kinda brags about being a hotshot hacker and claims to own $7 billion in bitcoin. The latter point is plausible based on the first interview, but why would you ever say that out aloud on a very popular youtube channel…

⬐ pcthrowaway

Yeah I'm pretty skeptical to be honest. The rags-to-richest story is heartwarming, but it's a bit odd for an unknown security professional (I can't find anything else about him online) to announce that they have 1% of all bitcoin.

⬐ unixhero

Because he can't be found within the deep Finish forests anyway :)

⬐ hamiltonians

like holding up a please rubber hose me sign

⬐ sshine

A by now 50 year old hacker who finally decides to make his story public has lots of reasons to brag. The reason why I could never become a blackhat is my need for affirmation. People who can do great intellectual work in the dark without anyone around them understanding or fully appreciating the effort involved have a different psychological profile, but they're still human. I really don't consider his bragging a bad side.

Bragging about how much money he has, however, seems both stupid and dangerous. I cringed when I heard about his wealth, on account of his own safety. If you own more than a few million bucks worth of Bitcoin, you better not say this.

⬐ alephnan

> The reason why I could never become a blackhat is my need for affirmation. People who can do great intellectual work in the dark without anyone around them understanding or fully appreciating the effort involved have a different psychological profile

THIS.

I used to think doing a PhD is lonely, but even then you have venues to discuss your ideas. Even with esoteric or difficult topics, there is an opportunity to package it for the masses. E.g. physicists.

I imagine it’s hard for hackers to even communicate with their significant others. This is not a topic you can go to school for and meet people who have the same context.

⬐ adamsmith143

Things like Defcon definitely exist so its not like this is some completely unknown subculture with no connections to other people.

⬐ twox2

Defcon hasn't really been much of a blackhat gathering since the early 00's. You have to go to south america, eastern europe, and asian conferences to make those kind of connections.