Me whenever I see "hackers" portraited in movies.
this post was submitted on 28 Jul 2025
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me whenever I see "mathematical geniuses" portrayed in movies
I watched "Good Will Hunting" a short while ago and the main guy was compared to ramanujan for solving some routine undergrad math exercises
Here comes the speed typing competition!
As an IT professional those scenes never bother me. If they made it accurate for the screen it would be incredibly boring: a person sitting bathed in light from a monitor typing with a blank expression. They'd pause. Then go back to typing. Every now and they'd alt-tab over to some social media or meme site for a few minutes before sighing, maybe they toss their glasses onto the desk, inhaling deeply while rubbing their temples, then switching back to the "hacking" while muttering curses under their breath.
Instead any day I'll take the CGI animations with 1990's techno music overlayed on close-up shots of fingers on keyboards with a final triumphant smack of the ENTER key, and quick simple "beep", and the actor exclaiming "I'm in!".
you forgot code being projected into their faces 😂
Or my favourite trope from the mid to late 90's: guessing the password. But not everyone can do that; they need a hacker for that.
I mean, there is def an applicable skill set there that most people won’t have. Understanding common passwords, the typical ways people might add variation to those passwords, and understanding how to apply relevant information about the person in question are all ways to massively narrow down the scope of potential passwords when brute forcing or guessing your way in. There’s a good numberphile video that covers something similar to this topic which goes into a bit more detail.
That’s to say: everyone should use a password manager.
I keep returning to Numberphile from time to time, and I think I have missed this before, so thanks for the stuff, it surely sounds interesting!
Hack the planet!
I know right? "Hang on..." [flurry of keystrokes] "Ok, I'm in!" [click click click] "Ok I turned off their security cameras and unlocked all the doors."
Mess with the best die like the rest
Jackpot!
While I'm a history nerd, I don't know enough to be this guy. But show me a plot involving computer software and I'll rip that shit to threads. Sorry. It bugs me.
Problem is, the closer you get to the present day, the closer the movie gets to being disinformation.
Then there are the ones who know the city where the movie takes place and point out how the location shots of driving through town make no sense.
I've gone to just completely giving up on movies.
When you watch Enemy at the Gates and need to correct shit for longer than the movie runtime.