DJB's Cryptographic Odyssey: From Code Hero to Standards Gadfly

Daniel J. Bernstein, the math genius whose code quietly protects most of the internet, just got a long, admiring write‑up — and the comment section immediately turned into a courtroom drama. One camp insists he’s the rare cranky genius who’s actually been right for decades, especially about government agencies trying to keep security weaker than it could be. Another camp says: sure, he’s brilliant, but this article is basically a fan letter pretending to be journalism.

One commenter flat-out calls it “the worst sort of journalism,” accusing the author of cherry-picking facts and glossing over all the real drama, like fights over new encryption standards and post‑quantum tech (the stuff meant to survive future quantum computers). Another blasts it as an “anonymous hit piece” and compares DJB to free‑software icon Richard Stallman: annoying, intense, sometimes rude — but driven by principles, not politics.

Then there’s the gossip: people sharing old war stories of DJB calling them “company shills” in public meetings, while others roll their eyes at his legendary mailing-list rants. One top commenter even says the whole thing “reads very LLM‑y,” basically accusing the article of sounding like it was written by a robot. The real plot twist? For many in the thread, DJB’s personality flaws are just spicy seasoning on the main dish: a guy whose math they trust more than most institutions.