Reading 10: Linus Torvalds just having fun

In Linus Torvalds' "Just For Fun", he discusses his upbringing, how he got to the self proclaimed nerd he is now, and how he created Linux. The first chapters talk a lot about the upbringing, and how he became fascinated by computers. He discusses his happiest moments playing with a calculator at a young age with his grandfather, and how when he got a computer it was such a fun toy for him and his grandfather as well. He says how he was "panting with excitement to start playing with the new computer" and goes on to explain how this fascination continued and drove him to find solace in computers and programming as he grew up where others were starting to find interest in sports or school or friends.

As I was reading this early background of Linus's life, I was trying to find relations to my own and see where my upbringing and/or relation with technology overlapped with his or had similarities. I struggled, as I was never extrordinarily fascinated with technology more than anything else. I definitely thought our first computer was very cool, but nothing drove me to want to sit with it all day. I think I relate most to the comment Linus makes about why the calculator or computer was interesting to him, and that is that it was challenging to understand and thus must have been challenging to make and therefore was worth exploring. The curiosity he had about technology I have had all throughout my life. That same curiosity has driven me to be a part of different communities, in a similar way to how Linus found a community in the world of programming. In picking my college major ideas in late high school, I came to the realization that I wanted to challenge myself with something that was "hard" and that would give me the opportunity to do something extrordinary, and to me the obvious answer was computer science. I thought it was the place that would allow me to have the biggest impact on whatever big move in technology was happening next, and I wanted to be a part of that. So maybe deep down I was always interested in technology, without having to have memories of obsessing over calculators.

Linus talks more about this when he says how machines were fascinating and that, "with those early devices you knew that what they did was hard". I knew that about computers and wanted to be a part of where they went next. This Linus touched on as well too in the preface of the book in discussing his "meaning of life" with three stages and that technology will soon be in the stage only for entertainment, and that is why he was so interested in it. I think I disagree with his intentions of this part and want to be part of more than just entertainment. I agree with the way he laid out how he thinks technology will progress and become focused on entertainment, and I think we can all see how it is already doing that, but my hope in joining the hackers/programmers/computer scientists was not to add to that. My hope was and still is to make a bigger impact than entertainment, and Linus here has done that too. So maybe it doesn't matter what your "intention" is and matters more that you just have passion and a love for what you are doing, and eventually the impactful outcomes will come?