Bruce the blowhard
I haven’t figured out yet what the fascination is with Bruce Schneier. A friend sent me a link to a Q&A with Bruce the almighty and his answer to the first question immediately turned me off. The very first question boiled down to ‘what will be the most incredible technology in 50 years?’ and it takes Schneier three paragraphs to basically say ‘I don’t know, but it’ll be bad ass.’
The article is so rife with ‘love me, for I am Schneier’ it isn’t even funny. I’d count his links to his own articles and references to himself just to prove a point, but I’d rather tend to my toenail fungus.
And yes, I intentionally did not include the link to the article. If you’re a Schneier sycophant, you’ve already read it.
What’s ironic is just yesterday I mentioned how this sort of post on other security blogs turned me off them completely…I suppose that makes me Michael the hypocrite. I’m okay with that.
I don’t even know why Bruce is such an iconic figure in the security industry. I also hold the same sentiment for many other security celebs (if you will). Who made these guys’ words the `Almighty’?
I guess I just don’t buy into the whole fanboy thing; I am not too impressed.
By Marcin on 12.05.07 11:56 am
i can’t knock bruce’s answer to the “how will things be in 50 years” question because there is no good answer to that… if he pretended to know people would get just as upset about his answer as you are about his non-answer…
but you’re absolutely right on many of the other criticisms and i think bruce himself summed it up quite nicely when he referred to himself as a media whore…
By kurt wismer on 12.05.07 2:27 pm
I can knock it because we’re looking for Kung Fu Bruce’s opinion of what will be the “mind-blowing” advance in technology.
If I were asked that question I would reply; human-embedded computers. For example; chips implanted in the human body to enhance functions such as vision by modifying electrical signals traveling along the optic nerve.
Nanorobots will be a successful reality that will advance medicine, manufacturing, warfare, etc, far beyond our current abilities.
Genetic Medicine…
Alternative fuel sources…
Space colonization…
But I guess Bruce would rather give us a history lesson and a quick link to one of his uber-popular essays on some other subject than give us his opinion on what things would look like in 50 years.
By Michael on 12.06.07 11:52 am
By the way, excellent article on the inherit insecurity of computer systems and the contrast between computer attacker and defender.
By Michael on 12.06.07 12:07 pm
I used to practically worship the guy when I first got into security and learned about him. He just seemed to have so many great ideas. But the more I read his stuff and I read his blog, the more I became convinced that he is just someone who likes the fame and has become totally convinced that he is a legend and deserves everyone’s praise and adoration. I’m sorry, but I kiss no man’s ass.
And after I met him at the RSA bloggers gathering last year, I was even more convinced that he is the blowhard you describe him as. He tried to dominate every conversation, and people just got fed up with it. He expected every one to bow to his superior intellect, and when they didn’t, he left.
By Michael R. Farnum on 12.06.07 6:33 pm
Wow, I thought I was the exception to the rule…
By Michael on 12.07.07 12:06 pm
I guess I was just too busy at the RSA Blogger dinner to pay much attention to Bruce, but I actually kind of like him as a person. As a security professional, I have to admit that Bruce did some very important work in cryptography early in his career and has mostly skated by on that since. I’ve read several of his books and liked them, but more because he had some good common sense ideas, not because they reveal anything special or extraordinary.
Is Bruce full of himself? Probably, but to him most of the rest of us are newcomers he’s never heard of. Is his ego deserved? A little, but that doesn’t make it any less annoying. Does that make him any smarter than us? Heck no.
I’m no fanboi either, but I have to admit that Bruce was doing this since before most of us could spell security. And I do like his frequent attacks on the stupidity surrounding the DHS and and TSA.
By Martin McKeay on 12.07.07 2:48 pm