Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The short, tormented life of computer genius Phil Katz (2000)

bbsdocumentary.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

61–68 of 68 posts

Re: The short, tormented life of computer genius Phil Katz (2000)

#61

Post by epo »

tdubhro1 wrote: post #28

"As soon as he started drinking, you could see a little smile on his face. That's when he could talk to people, or tell a joke." Coders in general are susceptible to alcohol for these kinds of reasons. Add in flexi hours (hey it doesn't matter what time I show up as long as I ship code, right?), and it's practically the ideal job for a functioning alcoholic. I've seen dozens of fellow programmers slip down the slope.…

Some personality types gravitate towards drug abuse and some types gravitate towards programming as a primary activity. The overlap between the two sets is very significant.

Add in money and a tendency to have few friends, and almost certainly no SO, and the wonder is there aren't even more casualties. Though there are a huge number of people who get older and wonder where exactly it all went wrong.

Re: The short, tormented life of computer genius Phil Katz (2000)

#62

Post by llcoolv »

paganel wrote: post #34
mylons wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree whole heartedly and have been to some of the places you have. One thing I have noticed in some friends and acquaintances who've worked out of depression is that they can attain this loftiness to themselves. They feel superior to those who are where they once were. Once I saw that in real life, I began to extrapolate it to a lot of the comments on the internet that tear down the depressed. Somehow they lose th…

> They feel superior to those who are where they once were. This is the thing I don't understand about these people. Once you've experienced depression but somehow you did manage to "leave it behind" you still have the feeling that's there, somewhere, hidden, and only the greatest fool would make fun of it or of people still suffering from it.

It is very simple - depression is like cancer in a sense that it expands and captures/modifies more and more reflexes, thought patterns, habits and other aspects of personality. The single most important thing is to stop trying to be accommodating and understanding to its effects (feeling sorry for yourself), which is needed in order to increase locus of control[1]. Another key part (which comes later) is to absolutely believe and be determined that you're not depressed and that mistakes are just mistakes. So, take lack of compassion and self-identification and you've got it. Still, being a bitter cunt is zillion times better than getting hit by a tram, because you don't care. Also, a lot of chicks just dig guys who are short on empathy, which is a nice reward. And when need be, empathy is extremely easily faked, because people are not very suspicious when they need it.

[1]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Core_self-evaluations

Re: The short, tormented life of computer genius Phil Katz (2000)

#64

Post by Patrick_Devine »

mcguire wrote: post #59
specialist wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow. The memories. I ran the hub for a CAD/CAM and animation themed BBS network. We would switch to the latest, greatest (e.g. PKPAK) almost immediately to reduce phone bills.

You aren't kidding. I'm having NEC V20 flashbacks.

I remember feeling incredibly bad assed as a young teenager prying the old 8088 chip out and slotting in this new processor which came in the strange plastic tube which I bought at some random hole-in-the-wall PC shop in Vancouver. I think I had just read Neuromancer for the first time at that point. It was a definite Future Shock moment for me.

Re: The short, tormented life of computer genius Phil Katz (2000)

#65

Post by ante_annum »

JoblessWonder wrote: post #56
psionski wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nobody is criticizing him and the article most definitely doesn't read "like a hit piece". At least that's not what I got from it, I thought it was very compassionate actually. Sorry about your problems... I can't say I know what you're talking about because I only had a glimpse of depression, but I understand the feeling of knowing your life isn't going to get better EVER and should preferably end right now. Thankfu…

I agree this article doesn't sound like a hit piece. If you want to read one that does, this short statement from Arc's developer is a good read: http://www.esva.net/~thom/philkatz.html

This is painful to read. Basically "We had legal disputes with him and now he's dead and I'm happy".

Re: The short, tormented life of computer genius Phil Katz (2000)

#66

Post by jimgardener »

JoblessWonder wrote: post #56
psionski wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nobody is criticizing him and the article most definitely doesn't read "like a hit piece". At least that's not what I got from it, I thought it was very compassionate actually. Sorry about your problems... I can't say I know what you're talking about because I only had a glimpse of depression, but I understand the feeling of knowing your life isn't going to get better EVER and should preferably end right now. Thankfu…

I agree this article doesn't sound like a hit piece. If you want to read one that does, this short statement from Arc's developer is a good read: http://www.esva.net/~thom/philkatz.html

>>http://www.esva.net/~thom/philkatz.html what a cheap piece of shit

Re: The short, tormented life of computer genius Phil Katz (2000)

#67

Post by mtdewcmu »

epo wrote: post #61
tdubhro1 wrote: post #28

"As soon as he started drinking, you could see a little smile on his face. That's when he could talk to people, or tell a joke." Coders in general are susceptible to alcohol for these kinds of reasons. Add in flexi hours (hey it doesn't matter what time I show up as long as I ship code, right?), and it's practically the ideal job for a functioning alcoholic. I've seen dozens of fellow programmers slip down the slope.…

Some personality types gravitate towards drug abuse and some types gravitate towards programming as a primary activity. The overlap between the two sets is very significant. Add in money and a tendency to have few friends, and almost certainly no SO, and the wonder is there aren't even more casualties. Though there are a huge number of people who get older and wonder where exactly it all went wrong.

The other problem, apart from alcohol per se, was the fact that he never had a smile on his face when sober. If alcohol wasn't available, he would still have been tortured.

Re: The short, tormented life of computer genius Phil Katz (2000)

#68

Post by Stratoscope »

mcguire wrote: post #58
Stratoscope wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It wasn't that part that struck me - obviously he wrote the copyright statement long before. What bothered me was "...it is a fitting demise...".

"no more fitting epitaph" != "a fitting demise"

I didn't confuse those two phrases. "a fitting demise" is a direct quote:

> One can only guess what drove him to such a tragic end, but it is a fitting demise for a man whose professional reputation is based entirely on a lie.

(emphasis added)

Post reply on HN