I love this lad‘s story. I hope he can take this globe spanning triumph of geek ingenuity and teenage self-belief and build something really substantial on it. He’s just started his degree course so he has plenty of time to screw it up.
Seriously, though, smart kids like George Hotz will form the next generation of leaders. Look at the US Presidency. In the current crop of candidates and hopefuls you’re seeing the last gasp of the big-picture, hyper-charismatic presidential pretender. The next US President will be a man on the old model: a Kennedy (Obama), a Reagan (Thompson), a Clinton (Edwards). The one after that, though, will be a geek. I’ll bet you a tenner…
All that effort and you end up with a phone with a lower spec than a three year old Nokia… you really do.
Reminds of the line in Rushmore where Bill Murray tells Max: ‘Come work for me — I could use a guy like you.’
‘Mr. Blume, I may only be the son of a brain doctor, but we get by…’