IMHO, the really baffling part is why the hell he thought bragging to his coworkers was a great idea. Close friends I could maybe understand, but office randos?

So many stupid smart people out there.

This kind of thing happens with naive hackers with big egos. Notice the article mentioned his boasting to coworkers.

He is OBVIOUSLY the most intelligent person in the room, so what could possibly go wrong? Reiser had similar attitude in court.