Ask HN: What are some technically inspiring movies, TV shows or documentaries?
It's often hard to summon the constant motivation needed to single-handedly build a web app or bootstrap a startup. When I've run out of my personal reserves, what are some movies and TV shows that will recharge them? I'm not talking about media that's just about tech. I'm thinking of movies like The Social Network and (the first) Iron Man, and TV shows like Silicon Valley and Halt & Catch Fire - media that captures the spirit of coding, building or engineering something. Alternatively, sales films that aren't technical but capture the "soft skills" needed to build something to profitability, like persistence and hard work, eg. The Pursuit of Happyness.
114 comments
[ 3.2 ms ] story [ 153 ms ] threadMy favourite fact is that they only had ~80 mins of film donated to them. This meant they couldn't afford retakes. Normally there's a ~10:1 ratio of shot film to final run length. With Primer and their constraints, they storyboarded everything in such detail and rehearsed so much that they managed to shoot just 74 minutes for a 72 minute run length.
That said, I'm not in the industry, this is just what I've read about the production of Primer, so if your experience was of 2-3:1 that may be more accurate!
Not joking, it's a silly and campy movie but it captures the enthusiasm I had as a kid for making computers do things.
Not about coding, but about achieving something through persistence and hard work: Fitzcarraldo (1982)
In-drama and out-drama?
> When shooting was nearly complete, the chief of the Machiguenga tribe, who were used extensively as extras, asked Herzog if they should kill Kinski for him
Moneyball Margin Call Limitless The Big Short Wolf of Wall Street That Fyre documentary and at Christmas - Trading Places
However it's also beneficial to have a dollop of reality on top of Iron Man fantasies. I think that docs like Indie Game and Startup.com must be on the first year CS cirriculum and a required viewing after Social Network. For many, it would help setting expectations a bit more straight.
“Mr. Robot” is great if you don’t mind it’s overdramatized dystopian atmosphere. Probably one of the most realistic use of computers in a TV show. It has ups and downs, some of its best and worst episodes are in its final season, it’s a pretty interesting roller coaster.
“Computer Chess” is a weird black and white fictional movie about people trying to build the best Chess AI in the 80s. I really enjoyed it. Does a great job capturing the vibe of the era.
The movie watered down Watney’s technical know how quite a bit. That is to say if you liked the movie, you’ll love the book.
Documentaries
- The Airbnb Story[1] <-- Start here
- High Score (A netflix series on the history of games, the first episode has a part where some college guys had to change hardware to make games harder)
- The Pirate Bay, Away from Keyboard
- Silicon Cowboys; highly recommend this one, I believe we wouldn't have the industry as it is today, if it weren't for Compaq.
Movies
- Who Am I, No System is safe (Look for one with English Subtitles)
- Echelon Conspiracy
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XicLf8cyh5E
War Games
Real Genius
Any of the 'How it's made' series.
For something less tech-oriented, "Molly's Game" is inspiring for me. The characterization of Molly as being both smart and relentlessly hard working is motivating to me, while also showing the dangers of taking it to the nth degree.
In a similar vein to "Molly's Game", "The Queen's Gambit" series on Netflix is not about tech, but very much on being the best you can be at something, along with the dangers of taking it too far.
"The Hundred Foot Journey" has nothing to do with technology at all, but rather cooking (which I usually hate). But, it captures the feeling of iteration, hard work, and self-improvement, and the notion of dealing with adversarial people and eventually becoming allies.
While definitely silly and kid-friendly, "Real Steel" gives me similar "iteration and self-improvement" vibes that give me a mental boost.
Finally, on the anime side, I have one hugely overlooked recommendation that I LOVED and yet got very little recognition: Knights and Magic. It's standard "isekai" setup has a software developer transported to another world, but he very much captures the excitement of taking an engineering mindset to problem solving when coming up with new mechanical solutions to each new fight. It's not as technical as I wish it were, but in terms of capturing the spirit of tech and engineering in a stylized way, this show was a ton of fun for me!
I’m not sure if I’m just taking away the wrong message (like the people who read Liar’s Dice and wanted to go into banking) or if the writer’s own subconscious admiration of these people permeated into the medium (or maybe they made it intentionally ambiguous). There is probably some deeper insight into how we all struggle with reconciling society’s veneration of individual success (monetary and/or reputational) with the social expectation that we conform to the norms of society (being social, not abusing drugs, placing social cohesion above everything else)
In addition to your points, I do think there is an aspect of human nature that is most strongly fascinated by people who achieve extraordinary things, but simultaneously have some major flaw or deficiency (especially a deficiency in something ordinary that we, ourselves, do not have).
It's as though, while we crave role models and achievements to aspire to, we are also comforted to think that our relative shortcomings with regards to our aspirations are made up for in other areas that our role models may lack.
I tend to agree with Elon Musk, he said: "If you need inspiring words, don't do it." [0]
[0] https://www.facebook.com/drivelinebaseball/videos/if-you-nee...
“I think Apollo 11 was one of the most inspiring things in all of human history. Arguably the most inspiring thing. And one of the most universally good things in history. The level of inspiration that provided to the people of Earth was incredible. And it certainly inspired me. I’m not sure SpaceX would exist if not for Apollo 11.”
- Elon Musk
A huge fraction of the movies people have suggested here are nonfiction about the space program.
You need to be shaped by those events like a statue.
That's why those events need to be powerful, significant and life changing not mere theatrical plays.
You need to be shaped by those events like a statue.
those events need to be powerful, significant and life changing
Sounds like you're making a lot of speculation on what you/Elon Musk think humans should be instead of what they actually are.
It's shifting the goalposts compared to your points earlier, which was that human beings could not rely on external motivation.
More importantly, without being accompanied by citations of some sort, your claims about what should be are basically religious/superstitious, and therefore meaningless to anyone else but you.
It's a documentary. Worth the time.
Discussed here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28942285