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    Linus Torvalds' upbringing was definitely surprising to me, it really seemed all over the place. In my opinion, it did not seem like an ideal situation. His early life consisted of death, separation, solitude, and more that was around him yet he was simply unphased. It seems like he unconsciously chose what to remember from his childhood (whatever was interesting) and what not to remember (the boring stuff). Initially, I thought it would be impossible for me to relate to him, but I have more similarities than I thought. I definitely am shy (as if I haven't said that before), in fact, my mom thought something was wrong with me as a baby because I was late to babbling sounds/letters. Like Linus, my grandfather also had a big impact on my life. Although it was through learning math, it was still an experience that helped me actually learn and not solely complete an assignment. I am also pretty stubborn, which I feel more than often can be a positive trait. When he talked about how he did not like asking/begging for money and how proud he was of himself for helping someone else simply for the sake of helping someone else, it shocked me because I could relate and it made me see the human in him. Those cases are exceptions, but we are very different when it comes to sensitivity. He referred to himself as insensitive and no one has ever told me that, and if they did, I would not believe them. I think that the sensitivity factor defines us and our other traits very well, it is just that we are on different sides of the sensitivity spectrum coin. One last thing, I am shy, however, I tend to speak up when something is wrong whether it is to me or others, my shyness goes away when my character or someone else’s is tarnished or threatened. I am not 100% proud of the fights that I have gotten in, but the common factor all of the big ones had to do with someone attempting to tarnish my character or someone else. I am not the most virtuous person on the planet, but I do care about how I am perceived and whether or not it is falsified because of the amount of effort I put in to hold myself accountable. When Linux was attacked Linus felt that it negatively impacted his image which caused the flame wars, and I understand his reasoning. 

    I think it is safe to say they all had some serious confidence and a lack of fear which I feel kind of go hand in hand. In my opinion, something like dropping out can lead to a big shift in one’s life which is scary. Each of these people were able to make such big shifts without a second thought in their mind, it seemed as though they did not have to care about the consequences because of their confidence in themselves and the people around them. Torvalds said “My code is always, um perfect. So I knew it had to be something else…”, that is the type of confidence I mean. For Zuckerburg and Gates, it was dropping out of Havard and simply deciding to pursue what they wanted. Getting into Havard is a huge achievement in my opinion, dropping out to pursue an idea, is something I could never imagine bringing myself to do. While there are other factors/lack of barriers that went along with their upbringing, I think that it is safe to make the comparison to the first MIT hackers, impulsive and curious. Torvalds, Gates, and Zuckerburg were passionate, curious, and, impulsive no doubt, however, everyone does not always have those superpowers and the means to act on them. I really liked the way Torvalds explained brute force computing versus having an epiphany and solving the problem. The epiphany is cooler, and he is right the satisfaction from just being clever is a great feeling. I hope to have more epiphanies as I continue to create my story.