Amy Livingston (alivingston-16543) Austrian artist and filmmaker Johannes Grenzfurthner tries to answer this question in his documentary Traceroute. It is a journey back in time (to the 1970s and 1980s) – and a trek across the USA, featuring interviews with many dedicated geeks about their worldview(s).I would summarize Traceroute as a funny road movie and insightful commentary about covert culture, subversive science and fringe art.You want to understand what's going on our planet? Nerds are the key...

Anton Korngold A captivating documentary, not only about nerds, but the human condition: obsession, longing, hubris, greatness. Grenzfurthner introduces himself as a tour guide through nerdvana, very ironic and self-aware, but also deeply honest about his upbringing, his interests and his political views. Some of the places, subjects and people are bizarre, some insightful and some politically and socially challenging, but always fun. That is the brilliance of Traceroute.

ibisum I was immediately drawn into this film. As a certified old hacker, the Traceroute message really resonated with me as I watched Mr. Grenzfurthner explore the culture that made him - and me - what we are today. From the opening scenes, all the way to the credits, I have to say that I was hooked on the nerd, and what he had to say about things, pretty much word for word.Thorough superlative command of geek language, Mr. Grenzfurthner's painstaking, Austrian-level attention to road-trip details provides much to unpack. Who hasn't wanted to take the Golden Nerd Tour from West to East coasts, visiting all the important sites in hacker culture history, with rockets and pornstar-cum-hackers and aliens and movie stars, obscure scientists and techno legends alike, guiding the way? I'm sure I'd sign up for this mythical bus tour in my old age, as long as we could have a slightly more geriatric Mr. Grenzfurthner as tour guide, and by then I'm quite confident he would have found ever more exceptional means to bake true meaning into the simplest of hacker things.Lick the prop! See this movie!

lauramonch As someone who was a supernerd and then kind of just accidentally stopped being one (all before the age of 15), I've kind of felt disconnected to the 'hard core' nerd- side of life. I don't get 50% of the references my nerd/geek friends make, I haven't watched the majority of mandatory nerd films and I wish I could persuade myself to take up online gaming, but I just can't be arsed (pardon my French). HOWEVERThis was a super fun documentary, very candid and not overly stylized. Of course: you need to have a certain interest in the subject and it helps if you know the things they're referencing to. But I've found that it's also extremely funny because of the very sharp sense of humour and the diversity of the people the visit. Nicely done!