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'Mr. Robot' may be fiction, but its hacking plots are all too real

recode.net

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Re: 'Mr. Robot' may be fiction, but its hacking plots are all too real

#51

Post by binarymax »

pawadu wrote: post #21
wcummings wrote: post #15

They're at least self-aware, in one scene the fsociety crew is watching "Hackers" and one of them comments "I wonder what will ruin the next generations perception of hacker culture" or something like that. Not my favorite rendition (full disclosure: "Hackers" is my favorite), but they do really drive home the "otherness", which is the core of any "hacker culture" story.

I find the Australian mini series "The Code" much more realistic.

That looks really interesting, thanks for the recommendation. Do you know off hand if it is available on Netflix or Amazon?

Re: 'Mr. Robot' may be fiction, but its hacking plots are all too real

#52

Post by pawadu »

binarymax wrote: post #51
pawadu wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find the Australian mini series "The Code" much more realistic.

That looks really interesting, thanks for the recommendation. Do you know off hand if it is available on Netflix or Amazon?

I think I saw it on Netflix... Or was it Amazon?

Re: 'Mr. Robot' may be fiction, but its hacking plots are all too real

#53

Post by agentgt »

TurboHaskal wrote: post #37
agentgt wrote: post #3

I'm going to play fan boy here. After almost finishing the second season I have to say Mr. Robot is the best TV show I think I have ever watched. Even better than Homeland. The funny thing is if it didn't even involve hacking I would still consider my favorite show. The psychodrama existentialism of the show is so good. The plot is so damn good. The acting is so damn good. Th music, the timing of title screen and the…

I have a few problems with this show: - The actors are often out of character (or their development isn't clear) and mumble unintelligible sentences targeted at milennials with existential crisis (there are a few rants from the main character that would make 14-year-old-me cringe). - The plot reads a bit like Fight Club fan fiction with some American Psycho and geopolitics bits thrown in. - The pacing could be improv…

> - And the worst of all: Main character uses GNOME, codes in Python/Ruby, makes heavy use of the mouse (and not to use ACME) and doesn't use Gentoo. I also find his lack of anime wallpapers disturbing.

In season two he is seen using Vim and then Leafpad. I think the character uses whatever is at his disposal.

Oh and I used Gentoo years ago (like 2003) and stopped using it because of the whole recompile the world. I don't think recompiling everything is the best option when so much of hacking is about speed and timing.

Re: 'Mr. Robot' may be fiction, but its hacking plots are all too real

#55

Post by lost_name »

binarymax wrote: post #51
pawadu wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find the Australian mini series "The Code" much more realistic.

That looks really interesting, thanks for the recommendation. Do you know off hand if it is available on Netflix or Amazon?

https://www.justwatch.com

(not my site, just a handy tool)

Re: 'Mr. Robot' may be fiction, but its hacking plots are all too real

#57

Post by tech2 »

scrollaway wrote: post #48

If you like Mr. Robot, you should watch Person of Interest. POI is a pre-snowden series about a world "in which the NSA has a system which spies on every american citizen in order to fight terrorism" (sounds familiar?). The show begins with the weak premise of "help us fight crimes we predict will happen", but don't be fooled by its appearance of a run-of-the-mill CBS show. Without spoiling it too much, I do want to…

Except that the main storyline is likely to be rushed to completion due to the final season being massively cut in length.

Re: 'Mr. Robot' may be fiction, but its hacking plots are all too real

#58

Post by jonknee »

Demoneeri wrote: post #44

I've watched S01 but I'm not sure I'll watch S02. The cliché about dysfunctional people in IT is too much for me. I'm a normal person and I don't have difficulties in dealing with other human beings. Also the part about vilifying companies and loving big government is not my cup of tea. At least in Person of Interest both were bad. Last part, vilifying money as a medium of exchange is just absurd. Are they expecting…

> The cliché about dysfunctional people in IT is too much for me. I'm a normal person and I don't have difficulties in dealing with other human beings.

TV shows centered around normal people are really boring.

Re: 'Mr. Robot' may be fiction, but its hacking plots are all too real

#59

Post by Swizec »

scrollaway wrote: post #48

If you like Mr. Robot, you should watch Person of Interest. POI is a pre-snowden series about a world "in which the NSA has a system which spies on every american citizen in order to fight terrorism" (sounds familiar?). The show begins with the weak premise of "help us fight crimes we predict will happen", but don't be fooled by its appearance of a run-of-the-mill CBS show. Without spoiling it too much, I do want to…

POI is an amazing show. You can really tell how they started off with a bonkers scifi idea, then between S1 and S2 Snowden happened and the writers were like "Oh fuck this shit's real??". The show much improved from there and pushed the scifi to the max. Like ok we know this is real, but what if it was waaay more powerful?

The only downside is that they let some techno babble seep in by S3 and the hacking has become a bit odd in its explanations.

Overall a solid 5/7. You should watch it.

And unlike Mr. Robot, it's watchable to nontechies so if your SO couldn't do Mr Robot, they'd probably watch POI with you.

Re: 'Mr. Robot' may be fiction, but its hacking plots are all too real

#60

Post by CountdownGraph »

Demoneeri wrote: post #44

I've watched S01 but I'm not sure I'll watch S02. The cliché about dysfunctional people in IT is too much for me. I'm a normal person and I don't have difficulties in dealing with other human beings. Also the part about vilifying companies and loving big government is not my cup of tea. At least in Person of Interest both were bad. Last part, vilifying money as a medium of exchange is just absurd. Are they expecting…

> about dysfunctional people in IT is too much for me. > vilifying companies and loving big government is not my cup of tea > vilifying money as a medium of exchange is just absurd

You should watch season 2. All of the above are directly addressed.

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