> [Bill Gates] attended Lakeside School in Seattle, a private prep school that in 1968 when Gates was 13 bought a computer terminal for its students. This was extraordinarily rare... By the time he dropped out of Harvard, Gates had accumulated hours of programming practice, an almost impossible number for someone his age.

I thought this but reading Gates biography (Source Code), it's very much overplayed. He did have access, but this idea that his skill somehow manifested from having access to a computer is just wrong. His access is constantly being cutoff and he finds creative ways to gain access. It's not like his dad installed a mainframe in his bedroom.

The typical teenager has 10x the amount of access as Gates had. The reason most people don't spend 20h a day programming is not access. It's drive. If you're that captivated and willing to do work, you'll likely find a creative way to gain access, which is exactly what he did.

> [Chris Langan] got a full scholarship to Reed College in Oregon, but when his mother forgot to file the financial aid renewal paperwork, his scholarship was cancelled. He went to the administration to explain the situation and got nowhere. He had no one in his corner, no parent who knew how to navigate bureaucracy, no mentor who could make a call on his behalf. He dropped out... Chris arguably had more. It wasn't work ethic either. It was the doors that happened to be open when they arrived.

Read through the summary and you'll see that it's exactly the opposite. It is work ethic. This dude couldn't just coast of being high IQ, while Gates hustled like hell to gain computer time. This dude's car breaks down and he gives up on university? Why is his mother filling out paperwork? He was an adult at that point. Why did he need his mother? How do much dumber kids manage?

A brief summary of Gates access:

Fall 1968, age 12 turning 13: Gates first starts programming through Lakeside’s terminal. A few months later he gets effectively unlimited free access at C-Cubed in exchange for finding bugs. He later calls this period his “first 500 hours.”

Spring 1969, age 13: After about eight months of computer access, Gates and his friends are caught exploiting the system and are banned from C-Cubed. Gates says computers were then off-limits.

Late 1969 / early 1970, age 14: After about a six-month hiatus, Gates gets back into C-Cubed through Paul Allen and resumes programming. C-Cubed then shuts down in March 1970.

Late 1970 to early 1971, age 15: Gates and friends get computer time from ISI in exchange for writing a payroll program. They also talk their way into the University of Washington computer lab and spend nights and weekends there.

March 1971, age 15: They are banned from the University of Washington lab after Paul Allen takes an acoustic coupler without permission. They continue using other terminals, including one at Gates’s father’s office.

1971–72, ages 15–16: Gates keeps getting access through Lakeside and paid programming projects. During one scheduling project he works about three weeks of 20-hour days. In summer 1972, he and Paul Allen spend roughly a month living in the Lakeside computer room, coding in 12-hour stretches and sleeping there.

1973, age 17: He takes time off high school to work professionally at TRW/Bonneville on PDP-10 systems. He says he once stayed at the computer facility nearly 100 hours straight.

Fall 1973, age 17: At Harvard, he gets his own account and key to the Aiken computer lab, giving him 24-hour access. Source

I think gates is obviously a very high IQ individual with a skill for math and coding.

However very very few high IQ individuals with skill for math or coding end up running successful companies, let alone billion dollar companies. I imagine odds are if Gates was born in 2000 and went a public highschool with no rich parents, he may or may not get into MIT (but not Harvard) and would be working at google or something today, potentially hating it.

> This dude's car breaks down and he gives up on university?

It seems like you’re overly harsh on this dude. Being wealthy and well connected lets you circumvent the kind of stuff Chris had to go through. Bill didn’t even need to file for any kind of aid - he could focus on the one thing. That is a luxury most people don’t have. I think if Bill was born to a poorer family and had to work part time jobs to keep the lights on, things would be very different.

Skepticism is fine, but you come across as incredibly sheltered. Also, the very embodiment of the belief system that the article is pointing at.

> This dude's car breaks down and he gives up on university?

That is life-changing when you're in poverty. Fuck, walk a mile in someone else's shoes. Housing is cheaper ten miles out; walk _twenty_ miles in someone else's _disintegrating_ shoes. Carrying books, on a poverty diet.

You don't have to accept the claim as definite fact, but have some fucking imagination.

> Why is his mother filling out paperwork?

As far as i can see from outside America, these things are addressed to the parent. They require proof of financial status, and a signature. The guy is presumably miles away. Perhaps the mother promises to do it, but lets him down. Perhaps she's spiteful. Perhaps she's afflicted. I personally know people whose parents have done horrible things to them.

You don't know, but you reflexively deny. Comes across as motivated reasoning. You earned everything you have through hard work and intelligence, huh? Started from zero, and there's no number lower than that. Good job, achiever.

Maybe this guy is morally defective for not intercepting his mother's mail and breaking into a kinko's at night to forge documents. I suspect he'd face harsher penalties than Gates for that rule-breaking.

I have seen rural poverty in America. I have seen people walking miles to sit in a tin shack for a nurse who comes once a week. I sat my white ass down in my branded jeans next to a woman with goitre. I sat for twenty minutes while i figured out that this wasn't a place i could get travel shots. I had the grace to feel shame - give it a try.

There are other things that point to Gates being more than average in terms of mental aptitude, like being among the very select group of Harvard undergraduates who took Math 55.