The Twilight Years of Cap'n Crunch

Carl Bialik from WSJ writes "Tech pioneer John Draper, a legendary, eccentric figure in Silicon Valley better known as Cap'n Crunch, has slipped to the margins while his peers became rich, the Wall Street Journal writes in a profile. Draper was a 'phone phreak' and helped develop the technology for word processing and voice-activated telephone menus; meanwhile, he eluded the mainstream by tampering with the phone system, frequenting the rave scene and shouting at anyone smoking anywhere near him. 'Once tolerated, even embraced, for his eccentricities, Mr. Draper now lives on the margins of this affluent world, still striving to carve out a role in the business mainstream,' says the WSJ. More from the article: 'Contemporaries who've gone on to riches and fame say they've tried to help Mr. Draper over the years. Mr. Wozniak says Mr. Draper's problem is that his skills lie in technology rather in making business deals or starting a company. "He didn't come from a business orientation," says Mr. Wozniak.'"

Comments

Much more in Secret History of Hacking documentary

[toby]

For a historical overview, detailed reminiscences of phreaking and interviews with Draper, Wozniak and Mitnick, see The Secret History of Hacking (50 minutes). In particular it details how the phreaking story hit national headlines, how Draper and Wozniak met, prank calling the Vatican, and the blind hacker with perfect pitch who can control phone switches around the world by whistling.

Re:Wow

[cowscows]

Well, there are people who like to think that they're smart enough that they don't have to pay any mind to "society's rules", that their extreme brilliance is all that they need. Geeks are notorious for that, although often unfairly stereotyped to the extremes. But in generally, things like "I'm going to wear t-shirts and sandals to business meetings, and they can go ahead and fire me if they don't like it" are basically symptoms of the same thing.

The problem is that in the end, technology is really only useful to the point that it interacts with people. While there are many who will appreciate technology for technology's sake, if you're really going to get anywhere, what you're doing has to satisfy people. And if your attitude pushes people away before they can appreciate what you're trying to do with technology, then you're just going to end up isolating yourself. As smart as you are, there are other people out there just as smart, who are also able and willing to have more normal social contact with others, and they'll get chosen over you.

If you want to make a technology based business, It's not enough just to understand technology. You should also strive to understand people as well. You'll never figure it all out, but the ways that individuals, organizations, and societies work are important, and pretending that it isn't won't make everyone else go away.

Re:Parallels?

[xtracto]

couldn't help but think of the similarities between him and RMS. I couldn't decide if it was amazing how two similar people could end up going in two different directions, or if this was foreshadowing the future for RMS.

Interesting... I guess the main issue is that although they might share a similarity on the "hippiesque" attitude they are certainly different.

Anyway, I feel really sorry for Mr. Draper, there was a time during my early University years (1998) when I read a lot about the old school hacking/phreaking/cracking scene. I got amazed with them and even tried to reproduce the different circuits (boxes) built just for fun (although they did not worked in the Mexican TELMEX company... well the one with the diode to avoid a call to be charged did kind of worked =o) ...

I would sugest The Hackers Crackdown for a really nice read about those times... I remember also reading some interviews made to "Dark Avenger" (a girl made the interview, which made it more interesting)... if you do not know who D.A. was, he was one of the best virus creators back when viruses did not need a user to click "Yes, install this virus on my computer" button...

Ah the old days... to think that some guys made loads of money with movies like Hackers, Sneakers, The Wizard among others commercializing in *some* way what this guy did...

Someone should rise some funds for these guy... I always thought of him as a genius

Re:How Strange

[tinkerghost]

Especially if I was some Apple hot shot. I guess my definition of "friend" differs from Mr. Wozniak's.

I doubt it differs that much, from the article, The Woz has paid for his legal bills.

Pff. Newbies.

[FlyingSquidStudios]

Draper is Captain Crunch. Cap'n Crunch is the guy on the cereal box.

Re:Wow

[cayenne8]

"After finishing up a CS program just last year, one of the biggest things I noticed was the major lack of social skills that many students had. There were many briliant students, but some of them just terrible at interpersonal interaction. I think the grandparent post is very right. Many brilliant computer types have this attitude about being so high and mighty they are irreplaceable...."

I agree. I find it amazing that so many in the field have the personality of a small soap dish. That makes it tough when you almost have to 'drag' the brilliance out of a very smart person.

I find that quite often, if you get into the IT field...if you have a good personality, out going, personable and present yourself well in business situation, it will often more than make up for some tech skill deficiencies you might have, whereas someone lacking but, a tech wizard, will often get left behind professionally and financially. In this day in age, you cannot afford to be one dimensional.

One fine case in example, I'd just started one of my first tech jobs where the team took a huge chance on hiring me..I'd really only had experience teaching myself foxpro, and building a user interface while doing medical research while trying to get into med school. My degree is in Biochem. Anyway, they were going to use Delphi to build a windows interface to submit and manage processes on the mainframes they had. Well, I'd only been on the team maybe a week....and they had to give a presentation, to a small group of potential users....maybe about 15-20 people tops.

These guys were all terrified it seemed of standing in front of the people and presenting the strategy and ideas we were working on. I've never had a problem getting in front of a large group of people for anything...so, noob guy volunteers. It went just fine...but,from then on...many people noticed me, and i did well at the company. I would have people ask my opinion over others in the group that were MILES ahead of me technially....hell, I'd have to ask them at times, and then give the answer later to the higher ups that asked me. So, yes...people skills will go a LONG way to save your ass and move you forward in life. You have to have skills to back up BS for sure, but, mediocre skills and excellent people skills can take you much further that skills alone.

"Personally, I think that interpersonal skills are something that really should be worked on by the people themselves and also perhapse helped by educational facilities. Why not have CS programs teach a class(es) in interpersonal skills?"

Unfortunately, I dunno if this is something you CAN teach. While I hesitate to say that these important interpersonal skills are something you are "born with". I would say that they are pretty well ingrained in you by the time you are a teen or maybe even earlier. I don't say you can't learn new things, but, with most people that have the skills....they are second nature and natural for them to use. I'd say it is kind of like being 'witty' and being able to come up with funny things instantly in conversation....a skill that often is a sign someone has exceptional interpersonal skills.