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In reply to the discussion: Why did it take a Democratic administration for Snowden to become a dissident? [View all]riderinthestorm
(23,272 posts)To do anything in the NSA you WILL be math proficient.
I find your quibble over if Snowden is a "math" prodigy or a "computer" prodigy hilarious. My dad was/is a math prodigy but was hired by Bell Labs to design computers because they recognized his cognitive skills were applicable to big projects and concepts. To this day, at age 80, he's both a software and hardware developer. Do you understand how incredible that is? And he's old, way past his prime but completely versatile in both.
Denigrating Snowden's skills says a whole lot more about you than anything else.
You have never worked with/known/managed a guy like Snowden that much is obvious.
Whatever gaps in Snowden's knowledge, for these guys just points a new and joyful pursuit in order to master those concepts. He's so young and however much you want to slam him for not knowing "everything" (I don't care if your slam is correct or not and at this late point in the night I'm unwilling to tackle it), that deficit will be conquered within hours with a mind like that.
If he messed up on a couple things, its a friggin miracle it was only a few things and he's still alive. More than anything that he's gotten away with as much as he has, says a lot about him and his skills.
At 22 my dad had already gotten my mom preggers twice despite trying to figure out birth control. He was an idiot about sex.
So in your world, he's no genius. Okay....