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Comment by seba_dos1 | Hacker News Reader

Is there anything particularly special about his age to make such a big fuss about it? Sure, this thing is worth an article like that, but it's not the age that makes it remarkable. People this age can just be perfectly capable to do stuff like that. What would have changed in perception of this article if he was not 22, but 32 years old? Would it still be mentioned in the title?

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Yes, his age is remarkable.

Cybersecurity requires a level of expertise that is unexpected of a 22 year old.

Even if we imagine that 22 year olds are just as capable as 32 year olds, his young age would be statistically remarkable - considering the number of people over 22 working in cybersecurity, against the number of people under 22.

> Even if we imagine that 22 year olds are just as capable as 32 year olds

They might be as capable but 32 year olds have a 10-year head-start of academic and industry experience to from where to draw. Achieving something that others with all that additional academic and professional experience haven't is a huge feat.

I agree, but counterpoint is the younger will have fresh perspectives and fresh knowledge. It shouldn't be discounted how biases or not staying current (plus all the additional responsibilities/distractions in general acquired in those extra 10 years) can hinder creativity and freedom necessary for this accomplishment.

I know what you mean, but I subconsciously compare his achievements and obvious talent at that age to myself when I was his age - and he's light years ahead of where I was. Hence, I find it impressive full stop, but also impressive at his age when compared to myself.

Being young is often an advantage when finding something really elusive that is obvious with hindsight - I think Meltdown and at least Spectre 1 fall in this category. When you're older, you get influenced more by how things are meant to work, whereas when you're younger (or just new to an area), you make fewer assumptions. You ask the questions no-one else thought were worth asking, because the answer couldn't possibly be true - but then it is after all.

So what you're saying is that it'd be more impressive if he was older?

There's a pretty clear confirmation bias here though. The persons asking the questions no one else thinks worth asking which don't lead to major breakthroughs are just "stupid" or "lack experience".

Ageism, plain and simple. According to silicon valley people are expected to be clueless at 20 and senile at 40.

We (as a collective society) seem to find excellence in youth 'staggering'.

I'm not sure if it's because we have a general perception that youth is when you should learn a thing, you then get a bit older and get good at it, then get a bit older and do great things with that ability, then sort of forget it all and be too old to be useful.

Cognitive fluid intelligence peaks around age 20 http://news.mit.edu/2015/brain-peaks-at-different-ages-0306

It's more than just intelligence. It's the amount of time to acquire the necessary context and domain knowledge.

Experience and Chance. Most people are still in college at that age and don't have years of experience in some particular field.

Also the older you are the more time you have had to discover something. Even if it's just by random luck you would have just had more time for it to happen.

22 is a golden age. Your brain is fully developed. You have probably 8-10 years experience already. And you have a lot of time. Then comes work, house, and kids, and you'll have to wait until you're 50 before getting productive again.

It makes a better headline.

I find a lot of misplaced amazement here at numbers in general. He started by reading the manual, which was ONE THOUSAND PAGES!!! And found a vulnerability that affects a BEEELLION COMPUTERS!! And he's only TWENTY TWO YEARS OLD!!!

Reminds me of the TV news, where any time a number is mentioned, they emphasize the hell out of it like I'm supposed to be amazed!!!!! Do they train 'em in journalism school to do that?

Here I see a story of how someone with at least the minimum level of interest and thinking skills goes and RTFM, then thinks about how to exploit this one design feature (a decision essentially made once per chip design, not a beeeellion times), and finally through experimentation and persistence figures out how to do it.

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